Because of COVID-19, I’ve been working from home since March 2020. It’s one of the measures our government has implemented to get this horrible virus under control.
Netflix and Leggings
At first, I didn’t really know how to handle all the extra time at home. I watched a lot of Netflix. I read a lot of books. I didn’t feel good about it. It wasn’t very productive and the more I slacked off, the worse I felt.
As 2020 progressed, it became clear the pandemic wouldn’t be over soon. We still had months and months of WFH-ing (yes, I totally did that: I’ve turned “working from home” into a Frankensteinish abbreviation-verb-thing) ahead of us. So, I pulled on my big-girl pants (COVID leggings, I veto thee) and had a serious talk with myself.
Two Options
The way I saw it, I had two options:
- I could stay the course, indulging in misery and excuses and Netflix binges and books by writers that weren’t me, or
- I could see the situation as an opportunity: I could use all these extra hours for the things that made me feel good.
I chose option number two, and – pleased with my new-found go-getter attitude – I retreated to my writing cave and had a long let’s-think-about-my-future sesh.
The Plan
I came up with a plan, even though I didn’t really know what I was doing. So, let’s call the plan a list. I listed the things I wanted to do to get ahead in my writing but never made time for. The first thing I listed: finish the first draft of my WIP.
I did that! I finished! It felt good. The next thing on my list? Complete one round of revisions on my WIP. I did that, too. I finished. It felt better than good. I then started a second round of revisions and recorded all the things I still wanted to fix in my WIP in a super-organized document. I had this go-getting thing down to a tee!
I also studied craft: I dove deep into John Truby’s “Anatomy of Story” and Jessica Brody’s “Save the Cat Writes a Novel” and created my own beat sheet (index cards, different colors, the whole shebang) and started on my character arcs. Finally, I created my story bible.
I ended 2021 on a writer’s high, sending my manuscript to beta readers for feedback. It felt better than better than good.
Onwards, to 2022 (and Beyond)!
Determined to continue my winning streak, I made another decision: I’m going to revise my WIP until it’s the best it can be and submit it for publication. It’s a scary, almost unobtainable goal. Perhaps I will succeed. Perhaps I won’t. But I have decided I want to try. No, I need to try.
The year 2021 was weird and horrible and I sincerely hope that 2022 will be better. But for my writing, 2021 was amazing and I hope 2022 will be just as productive. I know it will be up to me to make it so.