You Have Solved This Problem Before

Elizabeth George writes a journal for every novel, logging thoughts, ideas, and problems before she starts her writing day. Every day, she runs through the same pattern: read an entry from an old journal from previous novels, then write a new entry about the book she’s currently working on.

This habit gives her the scope to recognise that whatever she’s experiencing right now, she’s experienced it in the past and worked her way through. Problems got solved, and books got written. 

There are damn few problems in writing sufficiently new that I’ve got no experience in figuring out how to battle through. The problem is never solutions — it’s registering the problem is in play and certain solutions are entirely within my control, even if they’re difficult to implement.

Having looked through my calendar yesterday and recognised, yes, I was definitely not in a good place, I then ran through the checklist of things I know will help after a terrible month of writing:

• Block out my day (and writing commitments) the night before, so I know what gets done when
• Set my alarm an hour earlier
• Don’t touch the phone first thing in the morning
• Get up, feed the cat, and handwrite in the brain dump journal
• Jot down rough notes for today’s writing session before I write, because I don’t have time to ponder as I go right now 

I’d let some of those things slide during the chaos of November. At least two I’d been ignoring for months prior to that, because they were solutions to a particular problem (limited writing time) I haven’t faced in five years.

But I’ve solved this problem before using tools I’ve picked up here and there. And there’s no shortage of tools and ideas that might help (I rediscovered Elizabeth George’s Write Away and journal habits while revisiting John Roger’s Notebook system, and was reminded the power of rough notes in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Writing Through Fatigue workshop on her Patreon).