I’m a productive writer. I can’t deny it though sometimes I don’t believe it. I never feel like I’m working hard enough, or well enough, or with enough focus…and yet, somehow, the books keep coming. Somewhere around 32 of them now, though not all the ones I’ve written have come out yet and a lot of the ones that have come out are now out of print. But still, I’m trying to be proud of all I’ve written.
I spent the beginning of the year finishing the first Princess Protection Program novel, a middle grade novel about fairy tale princesses (and one prince) who flee their stories to take shelter at a boarding school in the real world, which is not quite what it seems.
Oh look you can pre-order it!
The point of this note isn’t to toot my own horn though. It’s to answer question I get asked a lot. Simply, “how?”
As in, how am I so productive?
How do I jump genres from young adult sci-fi to 9/11 fiction for tweens to dragon battles?
I often give a pat answer along the lines of “well, I have bills to pay…” as if that explains the incessant hypergraphia that compels to me to write book after book after book. It is, in part, true. But there’s more to it, isn’t there? There must be, as there are easier ways to make money than making up and selling stories.
I do have bills and no day job and none of my books are big enough hits on their own to support our family, so I produce a lot in order to keep writing full time, a lifestyle I love. I love the freedom and flexibility of not having a day job where I answer to anyone other than me. I love that a creative job lets me follow my curiosity down whatever path it leads, never certain where I’ll end up. I love that I get the chance to connect my day dreams to other people and occupy their minds for a while. In short, I love writing fiction.
I write a lot so that I can keep writing a lot.
But I also write a lot and write in a lot of genres for a lot of audiences because I’m fascinated. I’m fascinated by the act of taking an imaginary world and making it feel real with just the right collections of details, and I’m fascinated by taking history and seeing if I can translate the facts of reality into an emotionally resonant tale for people at a remove from that reality. I’m fascinated by what works in a story and what doesn’t (and lord knows some of mine have not worked…). I’m fascinated by the act of writing different stories but also by seeing how those stories are received.
I admit, I write for an audience and I enjoy (sometimes in a sick and self-flagellating way) seeing how the respond. I love it when two readers have wildly different reactions to a book of mine, especially when those reactions are passionate in either direction (though I prefer the ones who actually like what I’ve done). I’m fascinated with what resonates from my brain with someone else’s and I’m fascinated with what readers see that I never intended or knew but that becomes clear as day when someone else articulates it back to me. And I’m fascinated by kids and teens responding to books most of all, because their filters are wildly different than a grown-up’s. If I could write for an alien or an octopus, I totally would as long as I got to hear what they thought.
Yes, I google myself.
I’m just too fascinated not to.
I suppose this is my answer and my advice for productivity: hunt your fascination. Chase down what interests you. Follow it wherever it leads and pay attention to the landscapes that you find in the chase. Stay fascinated by whatever you’re fascinated by. Get distracted by it. Hell, even ruminate! It’s terrible advice for handling anxiety, but an essential skill for a writer (which is maybe why so many of us struggle with anxiety…it’s a skill we actively practice).
Ask yourself: what interests me right now? What random fact or story or emotion has a hold on me? Get obsessed and then share your obsession with others. Sometimes, that could mean hundreds of thousands of readers. Sometimes that could mean a book goes out of print fast. It doesn’t matter, because you’ll be on to another obsession, another story soon enough.
Don’t forget to pay your bills though.
Happy New Year!