Here’s your mantra for the week! This week’s card is from my The Sovereign Success Oracle deck. You can get it here or here.
Years ago, I can’t even remember how long it’s been, I was working with a rather prolific writer. He’d been aware I was writing fiction as well, although he only read some of it after we’d been working together for a while.
Once he’d read some of my work, he started telling me I had to prioritise my fiction writing pronto, fuck everything else. Well, not everything else. Everything but the novels I was editing for him. Obviously.
I’ve definitely dreamed of being a faster writer than I am, more than once, but by the time I became acquainted with this individual, I’d mostly embraced that, when it comes to fiction, I’m go rather slow. It annoyed me sometimes (and sometimes it still does…), that I couldn’t make myself go any faster, but not enough to doubt myself when this writer became more and more persistent that I was doing my entire career wrong.
What also helped was that I know a thing or two about privilege, and how hard it is for some people to acknowledge having any. Years of studying and then teaching feminist theory does that to a person ;)
This particular writer did not see just how privileged he was. He had the financial freedom to write all day, every day, and neither did he have to worry about groceries, household chores, making dinner, and so on. And he lacked the understanding that other people might not be enjoying those same privileges.
Even if I had been a fast writer, I didn’t have that kind of freedom. I still don’t have that kind of freedom, and, even if I did, I’ve never dreamed about being able to just write all day. My ‘day job’ – the editing, the coaching – fulfils me too much to ever consider giving it up. Another thing this writer could not comprehend.
I do understand where he was coming from. In the world of independent publishing, ‘rapid release’ – releasing multiple books in quick succession – is a common strategy, and ‘The best way to market your books is by publishing your next’ is a well-known mantra.
It’s no wonder then that many writers compare their own pace to that of others and worry about whether or not they’re writing fast enough. Interestingly, there are also writers – the truly prolific ones – who worry about writing too fast, about what readers might think when they publish too many books a year.
If there’s a sweet spot – the perfect number of books per year – I don’t think anyone has found it yet, but that’s not the point I want to make here. If you are looking for that ‘sweet spot’, what you should be looking for is YOUR sweet spot, not the sweet spot of your readers. And not only because so many readers means so many sweet spots and you can’t possibly hit them all (although that does make for a solid argument as to why we shouldn’t focus on our readers and what they need when it comes to our pacing), but because this is about you.
You’re the one who’s doing the creating, so whichever pace you set should serve you, no matter what your craft is. And what serves you depends on so many factors, it’ll be different for everyone.
Those who’ve been with me for a while know that this is not the first time I’ve talked about this. My first ever blogpost as an editor and coach was about this very topic. In fact, I wrote a whole series on prolific writers, complete with questions for those who want to figure out their own sweet spot:
On being a prolific writer II – What does “making a living” mean to YOU?
On being a prolific writer III – What is a realistic goal for YOU for NOW?
On being a prolific writer IV – How many words do you want to write per day?
That this topic isn’t going anywhere – at least not yet, but this girl can dream! – became clear to me a couple of months ago, when I was reading the Akashic Records of a writer who felt they were failing as an author because they weren’t writing and publishing fast enough.
I’m pretty sure they were hoping for me to retrieve some advice on how to improve on this or to find some block they could then get rid of, but the questions their Records wanted me to pass on had nothing to do with getting better at writing faster. On the contrary, their Records invited this readee to journal about the following:
Who does this timeline I’ve set for myself serve? Whose expectations did I base it on? Does this timeline actually work for me? If not, what could a timeline that does serve me look like?
In other words, their Akashic Records wanted them to look at the schedule they’d set for themselves – a schedule they had yet to keep up with – and ask themselves if it was based on their own wishes, desires, dreams, and needs. If not, it was time for them to rethink their schedule until they figured out a timeline that did honour them and their creative process.
There’s nothing wrong with comparing ourselves to others per se. Looking at what others are doing is how I learned everything I know about being an independent writer. Looking at what others are doing has also taught me what resonates with me and – through trial and error – what does and doesn’t work for me. I let what other writers have achieved inspire me as well.
But what I don’t do is look at what others are doing and follow that as a blueprint without asking myself whether or not it feels right to me. I don’t let what others are doing force me in a direction I don’t want to go. I also don’t take advice from people whose situation cannot be compared to mine.
I was, of course, more susceptible to comparisonitis when I first dipped my toe into the world that is independent publishing, but, in the meantime, I’ve asked myself all those questions – the ones listed in the four blogposts mentioned earlier – and adjusted my pace accordingly. To the benefit of my sanity and my creativity.
The next time you’re sitting down to plan out a creative project, or the next time you’re struggling with a deadline you’ve set for yourself, please take a moment to ask yourself what a timeline that serves YOU would look like. You can thank me later ;)
Happy pacing yourself this week!
Mariëlle
This week, you get 20% off everything but my courses and charity bundles in my Etsy and Payhip shop.
What will you find there? All the PDFs of my books, some of the paperbacks (getting them all on there is a work in progress), my oracle decks, and all of my Reiki offerings, including my Reiki Hearts.
If there’s a particular paperback you would love to buy direct from me that isn’t available in these shops yet, please let me know and I’ll try to get it on there for you before the sale ends on 5 May.
What works for one author won’t work for another author. I have written 8 non-fiction books since 2012. That may not seem like a lot to some authors, yet it’s many to others struggling to write their first book. It’s important to write at your own pace.
Oh, so much this! I can easily fall into being a workaholic and not realize until too late that I'm worn out. Taking a step back to look at what kind of schedule is actually in *my* best interest is hard, in this busy-busy-busy society, but it's necessary on a regular basis, at least for me. And I hear you about privilege. For me, one of the attractions of sneaking off alone to a cabin in the woods as a private writing retreat is that all the daily obligations (spouse, offspring, household chores, garden, bills, etc.) evaporate and there's nothing left but the writing. Of course, that's not sustainable - real life is still there after the retreat is over - but it does point up the differences between those of us who dovetail writing in among a myriad other responsibilities, and those who don't have to.