New Year, New Words
The New Year has begun. Resolutions are being fought for or swept under the rug in the midst of January madness.
I usually hide from New Year’s resolutions. Taking down Christmas lights is hard enough without the self-imposed pressure of making major life changes. But I made a resolution/pact with myself this year: I will practice self-care.
As a professional actor and author, it can be hard to define self-care. I play pretend and make up stories for a living. I have two great jobs. But the pressure to succeed can be overwhelming. It’s easy to forget when traveling to a new city every day on tour that it’s okay to stay in your room and take a nap when you’re tired. It’s easy to neglect little things—eating food that holds a modicum of nutrition or getting some form of exercise on a regular basis—when you’re desperate to finish writing a manuscript.
While writing can at times feel lonesome, being an author tosses you into a highly competitive field. You can see it in the Amazon ranking of books. Don’t sell any copies for a few days? Your numbers plummet. Even when you are selling well, there’s always the next elusive goal. Hitting top 1,000. Hitting top 100. Hitting number one, getting a movie deal, and having a theme park built around the world you created in your book.
All of those are great goals. At least that’s what I tell myself since those goals are straight out of my daydreams.
The problem comes in the sprinting.
I am a long way from getting my own theme park, and the climb up that Rowling-built mountain is going to be a long one. Yes, I want to write every day. Yes, there is a set number of manuscripts I want to achieve every year. Yes, there most definitely are some deadlines I’m contractually obligated to fulfill.
But if I sprint every day, I’ll never be able to climb the mountain.
My body will get all weird from sitting for infinite amounts of time, typing about imaginary places. My friends will get tired of my ignoring them to make up fake people. My brain will start regurgitating the same exact story with only the odd accents of the characters marking any difference.
My body needs time to stretch. My real life people need to be spoken to. My brain needs to go away from the endless stream of blank pages to find a new angle from which to view the world.
To me, taking that breath is self-care.
Taking that breath guilt free… I’m still working on that part.
So here is my challenge to you in the coming year: set goals and practice kindness. Be gentle with yourself.
I don’t know about you, but I cannot work on a project without a set goal. A word count per day, a specified date for completion. However it makes the most sense for the project. I have to set a goal. But does the goal have to be so great as to be panic-inducing? Is it wrong to give myself some cushion? A week longer than I should need to complete a project? That way, if there are a few days when I can’t face staring at my computer, I don’t have to.
I don’t need to write a full chapter every day. There’s no need to write 2,000 words and edit every day.
I’ve been trying to be kinder in my goals, and you know what? I’ve been working faster and getting a cleaner first draft. By eliminating the horrible bubble of writing stress hanging over my head, I’ve been able to focus on the words, not the ticking clock. I can take my time in the first go round, making sure all the furniture is in the right place before moving on to the next scene.
And I feel sane.
Letting myself step away from the computer to go for a swim (my chosen exercise when the hotel we’ve stopped at for tour has a pool) clears my head. I can sort my way through plot twists and turns in a much clearer, less stressful way.
Find the things that pull the panic out of writing. Set goals that won’t create unavoidable stress. Being an author is a long trail—give yourself the tools you need to keep moving forward in a healthy manner.
After all, without you, your world won’t be built, and your characters can’t exist.
Boy of Blood
by Megan O’Russell
Series: Girl of Glass
YA Dystopia
Fiery Seas Publishing
Publishing Date: April 10, 2018
After Nightland’s vicious attack on the domes, the safety and perfection of the world within the glass has been contaminated. Desperate to rebuild, outsiders are allowed into the domes to help, breaking the cardinal rule: outsiders and Domers must always be separated. But the city is in shambles, crumbling into chaos without the Vampers of Nightland to keep order, and one name is carried on the wind: Nola.
Clinging to Jeremy, Nola struggles to find a way to exist in the domes, turning her back on all she learned in the city. But when one of the outsiders brings the dark secrets of the domes to light, the line between survival and murder blurs against the spectre of the dying world.
Can Nola follow the dark path laid out by the Domes? Will the dangers of the night become her new sanctuary?
About the Author:
Megan O’Russell is the author of the young adult fantasy series The Tethering, and Nuttycracker Sweet, a Christmas novella. Megan’s short stories can also be found in several anthologies, including Athena’s Daughters 2, featuring women in speculative fiction. Megan is a professional performer who has spent time on stages across the country and is the lyrist for Second Chances: The Thrift Shop Musical, which received it’s world premier in 2015. When not on stage or behind a computer, Megan can usually be found playing her ukulele or climbing a mountain with her fantastic husband.
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