Using Structure to Support Creativity with Janet Kitto

Faster Fiction Podcast

Janet Kitto and I are kindred spirits when it comes to being organized and structured with our writing lives. In this interview we tackle the subjects of rewriting, how to stay organized as an indie author (when there is SO much to learn and do), and how books about creativity have been so instrumental to us both for helping us grow into our identities and writers.

And here’s a happy coincidence; Janet mentions how she got her start with writing via the November National Novel Writing Month event (NaNoWriMo). It starts tomorrow! So if you’ve been thinking about doing NaNo you can hear during this interview how Janet used it to begin her writing journey. (I’ve also written a blog post about how to mentally prepare for NaNoWriMo, which you can find here.)

In the introduction I talk about how structure, rather than stifling or inhibiting our creativity, can actually support and encourage it. This is such an important, and large!, subject that I’m going to write a blog post about it. Stay tuned for that.

Creative Notes for this Episode

• How Janet uses Evernote to support her writing and her writing education time.

• Her realizations through looking back at her journals, including her own definition of success

• How organization helps her to deal with overwhelm

• And how overwhelm and Resistance work together

• Why establishing our own personal defition of success is so important for writers

You can find out more about today’s guest, Janet, and all her books on her website JanetKitto.com. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below.

You can also click here to watch the interview on YouTube.

Transcript of Interview with author Janet Kitto

Alexandra: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Faster Fiction podcast. I’m your host, Alexandra Amor, and I’m here today with Janet Kitto. Hi, Janet.

Janet: Hi, Alexandra.

Alexandra: How are you today?

Janet: Fairly dry. Fairly dry on the West Coast.

Alexandra: That’s good. We had some storms recently that kept us all a little damp for a while there. Well, let me introduce you to everyone who’s listening.

Janet Kitto is a writer from Vancouver Island and the author of the “Circle Island” series, a collection of eight novels and five short stories. “Circle Island” is a fictional locale in the Pacific Northwest. Using a moral compass, readers take a journey, full circle and discover how love can transform their lives. Each compass point delivers a new area of Circle Island to explore, with new characters and beautiful and diverse Pacific Northwest settings.

Tell us a little bit more, if you would, about those books, and how you got started writing.

Janet: I write women’s fiction. They’re all centered around family drama. But when I say women’s fiction, they’re not always women-centered, but I do want to attract that kind of audience.

I’m more comfortable in saying that I want to write women’s fiction than literary fiction. The stories are about the human condition, and I want to have that connection about how the love in this story has transformed me and I want to transform, hopefully, something in the life of the reader.

Alexandra: Tell us how you got started writing.

Janet: Back in 2007, I learned about NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. And at that time, there were a few things in my personal life that I thought, “Okay, I’ll try writing a novel. Maybe that’s a good way to get in touch with what was going on with me. I could write about that.”

Although that’s not how it worked. I was dealing with a death in the family. And I just thought, with death, I wanted to look at how other people were dealing with death. So the story that I wrote, it was a really quick decision I decided in like two weeks before the NaNo started.

I’ve always journaled, I’ve always written short stories, and I wrote a few magazine articles, but this was the first attempt at doing a full novel. So, it was fun.

I was working full time, and it was every spare moment I had, I’d be writing things out. If I was at work, I had a little notepad and I was writing out and then going home and working on it. And so it was a really good experience. I completed that first draft.

I actually did it a couple more NaNoWriMos before I thought, “Okay, well, if I can do it during November, I’m sure I can do it year around.” So that’s where I started with the “Circle Island” series. That’s where I started to develop that idea.

Alexandra: So the book you were writing on during that first NanoWriMo, that was the first book in the series?

Janet: I didn’t realize that at the time, I just decided that the three that I had written during NaNos, they did have something that tied them together, and then I would just develop that into a series.

Alexandra: Okay, got it. All right. You talked a little bit about the inspiration for that was you were exploring your relationship to death and perhaps other people’s as well. And then in the introduction, we mentioned that love is a factor as well.

Is there anything else that inspired you to write these stories?

Janet: At the time, I wasn’t living on Vancouver Island. I’ve always wanted to come back, and these stories, they just…it was just home for me, so writing became writing about being home. And was there any other inspiration? I think it was just the right time in my life.

I have a daughter and she was getting more independent. For me it was that natural nurturing. I just wanted to write something that I thought, “Well, if it’s helping me, maybe it’ll help somebody else.”

Alexandra: Yeah. Oh wow, okay. And so you were born on the West Coast? Is that right?

Janet: Yeah.

Alexandra: And you were living away from it at the time?

Janet: Yes.

Alexandra: Writing about this place, which has its own particular geography, it must’ve been really comforting for you.

Janet: Yeah, it was something that I always dreamed about. My dreams were always about back home. There was a lot of things that molded me as a child, that ended up in those books.

Bookmobiles, for example. Bookmobile just pulled up in front of my house one day when I was a kid – it was summer vacation – and the door opened and there was my invitation to every world.

Alexandra: Oh wow. That’s so cool. And so we mentioned in the introduction as well that there are eight novels and five short stories. So tell us about that.

Because as far as I can tell there are only four points on a compass, but maybe there’s another story here.

Janet: If you look at a compass, there are four cardinal directions, but there are also four intermediate directions. So, besides north, east, south, west, northeast, and that’s what I was looking at, was the compass, that there were eight points that would actually take us around.

And I just discovered that’s called a compass rose, and I really like that.

Alexandra: Oh I didn’t know that either. Wow, cool.

Janet: When I started to think about it being a moral compass and it telling a moral story, I could see that there were eight different directions that I could go in. I decided early on where the books I had already written, how they would fit into that, and then what I needed to complete that compass.

Alexandra: And how do the short stories fit in?

Janet: When I discovered about reader magnets [a marketing technique] and permafree books, I thought, okay, I’ll do some short stories too. So the first short story collection is a sort of back story to the first three novels. And then the last two novels in the series are very important and they kind of tie everything together, so I thought I’d do another collection there. Just for myself too, just to explore those characters a bit more.

Alexandra: You and I are both a big fan of systems. We’re in a mastermind group together, and I can tell that you and I are the ones that are really attached to systems and processes and all that kind of stuff. I love lists. I mean, I’m sitting here at my desk, there’s papers with lists all over the place, and books and all that kind of stuff.

What are your favorite systems that support your writing?

Janet: I use Evernote to organize my life. I’ve used it for quite a while. And I’ve tried other systems and it just… It’s nice because I can work on it at home, I can have it on my phone. So it’s just, for me, it really works.

I was having some difficulty with getting the last novels written for this series, and I just decided, “Okay, I’m going to make a project of this. I have 15 months.” I had a deadline in my mind of when I wanted to have all the drafts done. So with that in mind, I have a project.

I built a stack of binders in Evernote and each one… I have one for our mastermind group, I have one for another mastermind group that I’m in, one for journaling, one for my reading log, a word bank.

There’s seven of them. And so, yeah, my system is just, in the afternoon, I open each binder and I look at the notes. For our accountability group, I know what goals I’ve set, and I refer to that every day to see, okay, am I getting anywhere closer? So that when I have to call in, do I have something that I can report on? I have templates so that I can keep those notes. And then it’s really a nice way to look back as well and see “Where was I struggling? Why was I struggling?”

I know for some people that might seem like a lot of work, to track everything, but you can’t manage it unless you measure it. I have production calendars and I track what podcasts I listen to. I just keep track of everything. I think that time every day is valuable. And then I don’t have to think about the next day when I sit down. I’ve already gone through all of my binders and I know what I have to do.

Alexandra: For that day.

About how much time would you say it takes each day to just check in with those?

Janet: That’s a great question. At least an hour. But I think that’s time well spent.

Alexandra: Yes, yes. Because then you’ve got a handle on exactly where you are and exactly where you want to be in the next few days or whatever it is. Yeah.

Janet: Even setting goals. When you write them down, you realize, “Okay, well that’s still too general. What steps do I actually have to take?” So that’s a review every day, and that’s how I find that I’ve found the success where other systems didn’t work. It was looking at it every day and going, “What bite of it can I have today?” and take care of that.

Alexandra: Oh that’s such a great insight.

Looking at it every day has been a big part of the success for you in that system.

Janet: Oh yeah. By the end of the week, the pressure is on. Okay, well, then I’ll just break it down. What else can I do? Yeah.

Alexandra: Oh very cool. You shared one of your systems with me, and I think it was your weekly spreadsheet, for the stuff you were going to accomplish. And so, two things that you do that I really like, is writing down your goals the night before, and then planning your education time. That was the one that really interested me. So you had blocked out which podcasts you listen to on which days and that kind of thing.

Can you tell us a little bit about that and why you started doing that as well, even with your education?

Janet: I love it because now I don’t have to even have to think about what I have to do, I just have to look every day, “Oh it’s Monday. It’s time for the Creative Penn podcast.” So, yeah, I have a schedule.

I did that because, through my journal, I looked at, well, what’s my definition of success? And I’ve gone through a period where I was focused on writing and then focused on publishing and marketing, and I got overwhelmed.

So, sat back down and I said, “Well, what’s my definition of success? What’s really important to me?” And I came up with two things, and that was to complete a body of work. Because once I had the idea that I want to do Circle Island, I don’t want to do anything else. I really want to complete that body of work. And I know that you still have to, but that was the important goal to me. That was what I wanted to focus on.

And then the other goal was to become a better story teller. Just like Tim Grahl says in his intro in the Story Grid podcast. He’s trying to become a better writer and storyteller. Totally relate to that. So those two goals.

And I looked at, well, how can I do that? So that’s how I set up my writing schedule and that’s… I opened up my inbox and I looked, “Okay, I’ve signed up for how many courses? How many free downloads have I got?” Again, it was such a mess because there was so much coming in.

So I made a list of everything, and I decided, okay, well these things don’t fit into those two goals that I’m focused on. So out they went. And then I created that weekly schedule out of that. I think each day I have at least two to three things that I focus on, education-wise. If I just get one of them done a day, I’m happy.

Alexandra: Yeah. And that’s such an important point that you make, because being an independent author is so overwhelming. Like you talked about, there’s the actual writing, there’s the marketing, there’s the publishing. I mean, those are huge arenas, each one, in and of themselves.

I love what you’re saying about choosing, really consciously choosing what it is you have to focus on, and it may just be what you’re focusing on at this time, in your career. And as you say, that it’s the writing that’s most important to you right now.

And later when the books are done, perhaps you’ll take that hat off and put the marketing hat on, or whatever it is. I think overwhelm is such a, I don’t know, pitfall.

It’s so dangerous for independent authors, and finding ways to deal with it is so important, I really think. I think you’ve done a great job at that.

Janet: Oh thank you. Yeah, because the overwhelm and resistance, they’re just hand-in-hand.

Alexandra: Absolutely. Yeah, well said. No, it’s true.

And when I feel overwhelmed, I just don’t get anything done. I just throw my hands up in the air and walk away.

Alexandra: You’re going through quite a big revision process now with the “Circle Island” novels.

Can you tell us a little bit about that and what started that process?

Janet: Yeah. Again, with my definition of success, I really struggled. I had put books out there and I did as best as I knew to do.

I realized that I didn’t get my covers right, and there was editing. I could do a lot more editing on the books. So I thought, “Okay, I really want to pull everything back. I’m gonna put new covers on them. I’m gonna re-market them.”

Now that I’m writing at the end of the series, I’m realizing “Oh there’s a lot of things that although these books can be standalones, there’s a lot of things that I could just add in that would make the whole series more cohesive.

It’s a good chance for me to do that editing and tie everything together.

But I did have quite a conversation with myself through journaling. Am I doing this because I’m afraid? Because I’ve put everything out there and I didn’t get the result I expected? And so, I really had to decide, well, is it fear? Is it resistance? Or is this just a really good decision?

And the thing to realize is that there’s not a time limit. I think there’s maybe two kinds of writers in these that some of us feel really fired up and want to get our books out there, and want to be bestsellers and have earned a living from our income.

And it’s not that I don’t want to do that, but because of my definition of success, my timeline is different. And so I’m looking more long-term. And if I’m trying to define my success, I believe that when I do all these things, in the long run, I’m still gonna get there.

Alexandra: Yeah, that’s so well said. And such an important point, I think, we do really have to define for ourselves what success means, and it’s definitely not the same for every person.

Janet: Yeah. For me, that reward is going to be there when I see the completed body of work, definitely.

Alexandra: Yes. Yeah, exactly.

Janet: And I think that’s where I was going with “The War of Art” comment, is that, yeah, it was just the realization that I didn’t have to have the same timeline that everyone else has. And that’s really easy to do when you start out as an indie, is you’re looking at what everyone else is doing. I just had to figure out for me what was going to feel the best.

Alexandra: Do you remember what it was about reading that book specifically that helped you to understand that you needed to do what was best for you?

Janet: Yeah, because that book wasn’t the best. There was a number of books I read at the same time, and I don’t know that that book spoke to me the loudest, but it was definitely I really had to read it.

Because now I’m reading “Big Magic,” and I feel like I relate more to what Elizabeth Gilbert is saying than what Stephen Presfield was saying. Not that his message isn’t really important, but he just…he makes you really look at “It’s not all these other things that you’re trying to label it, it’s just simply resistance.”

You simply have to sit down and you have to do the work. And that was the other thing, is just I had to have that mind shift and tell myself it’s okay to write the worst crap in the world. I can edit it. I have to get the ideas on a paper. And I think that’s what Stephen King’s message is as well in On Writing, is you just have to get it out.

Alexandra: Yeah, yeah. So important and such a hard lesson, I think, for people to learn. It was for me, for sure, to recognize that that’s the most important step, just getting it out onto the page, and then you can fix it.

Janet: Yeah. That’s the story that I’m working on right now. I’ve had to write a lot of stuff just to get to what I couldn’t…I didn’t know was in there. And then like, I could change the beginning anyway. So what does it matter if it’s done or not? Move on and just let the process happen.

Alexandra: Yes. Yeah, exactly. Well, and I’m glad you’re enjoying “Big Magic” too. That was one of my favorite books last year. I just love it. And in fact, I was just thinking recently that I should read it again, because it’s been about a year since I read it.

Janet: Yeah. You hear a lot of people talking about that, that they read books every year. And I don’t know, I feel like I read a lot and it’s “How will I ever have the time?” Now I’m getting it, that I really wasn’t reading the right books before. Because there are definitely ones I’m gonna read every year.

Alexandra: Yeah, I think that might become one of mine. We’ll see. This has been amazing, Janet. Thank you so much for chatting with me today.

Why don’t you let everyone know where they can find out more about you and your books?

Janet: Sure. So my website is janetkitto.com, janetkitto.com. I’m also on Facebook, and I’m on Pinterest. Instagram is something new that I just started out. So I’m on there as swell. My website’s going through a bit of a revision as well. Please come visit my website and you’ll be able to sign up for my newsletter. And I have a blog on the website as well.

A really good process that I went through was… And nobody read the blog, but it was just great to write it. It helped me develop the series. And then realizing that it’s something else. Just like our books, it’s out there forever, so it doesn’t matter when people come to it. When I was writing it, I just thought “Oh, it’s out there. Why isn’t anybody reading it?” But it was a great thing to have. So, the blog will tell all the readers about all the stops. It’s a bookmobile. I go out in a bookmobile and I make all the stops on the island and tell you about what you can find in all of the compass points.

Alexandra: Oh neat. Wow, okay. I’ll put links in the show notes to that, for sure. Awesome. Well, thank you again so much.

Janet: Thanks, Alexandra. It was a pleasure.

Alexandra: Okay, bye.

Janet: Bye.