Episode 74: Writing Backwards to Write Forwards

Mom Writes

It’s the final stretch in the race towards the holidays and the New Year, and we at Mom Writes are right there with you. It’s a challenge to find a way to get everything done: school projects, school parties, last-minute gifts because you realize you forgot Great Aunt Muriel, finding enough stamps to send the cards (heck, finding all the addresses to put on the cards)… PLUS all the regular stuff. Like laundry. And dinner.

And writing.

Do yourself a favor and breathe. Then give yourself the gift of grace. The good thing is, grace is free. And unlike Prime shipping, it’s instant. You can’t do it all, and kidding yourself that you can just leads to extra holiday stress.

Of course, I’m going to practice what I’m preaching. And this week the name of the game is prioritizing. Episode 74 of Mom Writes made the cut. But the show notes didn’t. Maybe 2019 will be a better year for show notes. (And maybe it won’t.) But just so you kinda know what you’re getting in to, here’s a small recap:

The first 10 minutes we spend chatting about my upcoming move and my disappointment that the sellers of our new house wouldn’t leave me their pig. All of this gets loosely connected to writing and two of our favorite writers: Lori Richmond and KJ Dell’Antonia. If you aren’t into the chit-chat, I suggest skipping ahead roughly 10 minutes!

Next, we dig into my assignment for the week. I was tasked with re-outlining my book(s) and revisiting the backstory to work on some logic holes. I did so by writing a single scene that’s crucial to my whole story and my whole world and then making a timeline to cover all the time in-between my crucial scene and the start of my novel. Note, my approach didn’t require character sketches or long, drawn-out explanations of anything. I made sure only to hit on details that were essential to my story.

Lastly, we mention another of our favorite people ever: Dan Blank! I had the idea to get Dan to come back on the show and talk about creative obsession. (We’ve already released that episode, by the way! It’s Episode 49: Creative Obsession with Dan Blank. So if you missed it, might I suggest giving it a listen sometime.)