I love writing, but as with anything in life, stuff gets in the way. Here are five obstacles I face when trying to complete a book, and how I get over them.
- Time Management: I’m a terrible time manager, although during the past couple of years I’ve been getting better. I now use a spiral bound calendar and it has helped me tremendously. Who knew? Fun fact: Ruby Glick in The Teacher’s Bride also discovers how useful calendars and planners can be. (That might be a wee bit autobiographical.)
- Inspiration: Sometimes the well runs dry. When this happens, I have to mix up my routine a bit—read different books or get out of the writing cave or catch up on current events. I love reading about psychology and counseling, which helps me come up with ideas. I try pay attention to the world around me more when I start running out of inspirational steam. Fun fact: when I was in college, I majored in psychology before switching to teaching. The two disciplines often overlap.
- Writing the first draft: Oy. This is the hardest part of writing for me, and I wish I could say that I have a tip or trick to make this easier, but I don’t. I do find that trying to get in at least 2,000 words in the morning helps. I don’t always make that goal, but when that happens, I still have plenty of word count already in the story. I also remind myself that the first draft is just getting the story out, and not worry about editing what I’m writing. That’s for later. Fun fact: there is no fun fact about writing the first draft. It’s plain torture.
- Distractions: I’m a bit ADD, and I get distracted very easily. This especially happens when I am writing the first draft. I’d rather do anything, even housework (gasp!) than write. Then there’s the good distractions—phone calls with friends, crochet, going out to lunch, doing my nails, taking a nap…it’s endless, really. I deal with this by “rewarding” myself with a fun distraction when I reach my word count for the day. Fun fact: To keep from sitting in a chair for hours at a stretch, which in the past has wrecked my back, I write for thirty minutes then get up and do something, often a quick chore. Breaking up the writing time in chunks helps with concentration, too.
- Nerves: After almost twenty years of writing and over fifty published books, you would think that I had this writer’s anxiety thing licked. Not so fun fact: I don’t. I want every book I write to be my best, and I always have the reader in mind when I write. I never want to disappoint anyone. But the reality is that you can’t please everyone, and when I remind myself of that, it helps settle my nerves—for the most part. Prayer also helps. Trusting God when I’m writing a story is key to keep the nerves at bay.
Question: How do you overcome obstacles that get in your way?
With over a million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, the Amish Letters series, the Brides of Birch Creek series, the upcoming Mail Order Brides of Birch Creek, as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. She has also contributed to numerous novella collections.
