Yesterday, Ryan & I went to Barnes & Noble in search of a book I accidentally left at school, but wanted to do some work with over the summer. We didn’t find the book, but I sure did enjoy my trip to the bookstore! There is something so magical about walking through a bookstore, especially Barnes & Noble. I know we have an endless amount of knowledge at our fingertips via the internet, but there is a big difference between an article about a topic and a book about a topic! Plus, I had a gift card from my birthday 🙂 Barnes & Noble had a lot of books on clearance & I came home with some well-priced quality reads.
Ryan also surprised me with the book on the bottom (Night Road by Kristin Hannah) later when we were at home. I was looking at it earlier and decided not to get it because I already had a few books in my hand and more at home waiting to be read. While I had my nose in any and every book, he bought it and ran it out to the car. He is so thoughtful 🙂 One of the many reasons I love him so much!
I bought the book 90 Days to Your Novel in hope for a little inspiration. I’ve already read 35 pages and come across some key points which are impertinent to succeeding in this project.
- The secret to success , after all, is not your inspiration, remember, but your habits. (pg. 15)
- Writers do not wait around for inspiration to give them an idea. “Instead they rely upon routine, upon self-determination.” (p. 16)
And I just wanted to add on something Roy Peter Clark said, which has stuck with me. We may not be able to write a whole book in a day (or at all) simply because the enormity of the task paralyzes us, but we can write a page a day. Breaking projects down into small parts will help us feel more successful because we can actually accomplish small chunks. These chunks will later lead to the bigger projects, but you may be more likely to complete the big project. This is a huge realization for me. And it’s not even that I didn’t know it-it’s just I don’t PRACTICE it.
The book really got me thinking about my habits and routines. Sure, I know I have them, but what are they? Truth be told, it is currently difficult for me to label my habits and routines because I have been on Summer Break for the last couple of months and my “routine” is typically more of a question of: What am I in the mood to do? This has been extremely nice, but I am a girl who LOVES routines and NEEDS them. However, having a dog requires some form of routine & I have a typical exercise routine, as well as a daily routine during the week when Ryan is at work.
Carving out real time for writing will require me to make some decisions & sacrifices in other areas. ESPECIALLY, when the school year starts. Being a teacher, I do not think it is realistic for me to expect to have a novel written in 3 months. But, if I’ve got a good chunk written and have a direction -I will be ecstatic! I love to write and this has been a dream of mine since I can remember. As I get older, I realize that soon other parts of my life will require more attention and I may not be able to focus on this dream goal as much as now. So…NOW is the time.