When I first started writing, the idea of
trying a novel terrified me. I could face short stories, even though I didn’t
love them; but 90,000 words might as well have been a million. It would take me
forever to get from start to finish, and the whole time in between, I would
have no idea whether I would succeed. So for years, I didn’t even try.
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Then I realized I knew how to tackle this
problem. You see, I’ve always played sports. That meant I knew how to work
towards a goal over time. If I thought about writing the way I thought about
running, I would know what to do. More importantly, I would know how to do it.
It all comes down to a routine.
When you first start running, your
long-term goal might be to run a marathon. But you don’t expect to be able to
run a marathon the first time you pull on your running shoes. You go out, and maybe
you walk for five minutes, and that’s your first workout. If you keep at it,
you get a bit better, not every day, but every week or two, and after a couple
of weeks or months, you’re running a few miles. A few more months, and maybe
you’ve worked up to your first 10K. You don’t expect to win that, you’re just
happy to finish. Then you set your sights on the half marathon, and finally,
after a solid 6-12 months of regular running, you line up at the start of that
first marathon. Maybe you don’t finish the first one, but you try again. Sooner
or later, you’ve done it! 26.2 miles! You didn’t know for sure you could do
that, that first day you walked five minutes. But here you are.
Why?
Because you went out the door three or four
or five days a week, every week. When it was cold, when it was raining, when
you were hungover, when you just desperately wanted another hour of sleep. But
most of the time you got up, and you did it, and you finished your run. Because
that was your routine.
Writing a novel is exactly like running
that marathon. Most of us don’t just get up one morning and knock out 1600 good
words a day, 50,000 words a month, three novels a year in a frenzy of
enthusiasm. Sure, a few people do that, like a few people run 7 minute miles
their first day. Of course, most of them get injured, or burned out. For the
rest of us, there’s a better way.
Build yourself a sustainable routine. Don’t
start out planning to get up at 4 a.m. and write for three hours before work.
Instead, set your alarm for 15 minutes earlier than usual. Write for those 15
minutes. Maybe it will be a sentence, a paragraph. If you’re fast, it might be
a page. But that’s not the point. You’re getting in shape. You’ll probably want
to do more pretty soon. That’s great. Set the clock earlier—but not too much.
Increase gradually. Work your way up. The most important thing is consistency.
That doesn’t mean writing seven days a week, it means writing regularly. Figure
out what works for you. It might be all day Saturday, every Saturday; more
likely, it will be an hour, give or take, maybe four or five days a week.
Challenge yourself, but be realistic too.
If what you’re doing feels too hard, back
off a little. Some running plans have a great tip: every four weeks, you cut
back your mileage. That helps you stay fresh. Try it with your writing routine.
And like exercise, recognize when you legitimately need a day off from writing,
no matter what you planned. We all have those days and weeks and sometimes even
months when other priorities are truly more important. When you get back to
your writing, recognize that you’ll be a bit out of shape. Ease back into your
routine gradually, just like you started it.
More than 2 million people finished
marathons or half-marathons last year. Most of them got there because they
found a training routine that worked for them. As a writer you can find your
routine as well. I’m rooting for you to type “the end” at
the finishing line of your novel!
Stacey Berg is a medical researcher who writes speculative fiction. Her work as a physician-scientist provides the inspiration for many of her stories. She lives with her wife in Houston and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas. When she’s not writing, she practices kung fu and runs half marathons.
