The Takeaways from my #5DaysofFocus

I set out late last week to fashion a DIY Writing Retreat that would span five days. Here's what happened along with some tips about how you can set up your own period of focus and why you should.

I'm in the midst of revising a novel I finished in May of 2017. When I put the draft in a drawer and left it for a few months, I knew some of the ways it needed fixing, but not all. I started revising it in earnest at the start of 2018, and I've had starts and stops. Often, I would get frustrated because I couldn't seem to do two good days of revision back to back.

So, when I knew I had five days to myself coming up, I decided to shake things up. My rules were pretty simple:

• Revise.
• Stop being so distracted by everything else.
• If I wasn't revising and wanted to consume things rather than create them, they had to be related to the process of writing and revision. In short, they had to contribute to my overall goal.
• Avoid getting sidelined by new projects that float to the surface. Write it down and move on. I could come back to it after my retreat.
• I had to go for my normal walk with Sophie, even on Saturday and Sunday. We normally skip weekends, but I think I may start walking her seven days a week again.

Did I magically finish revising the novel in those five days? No. In fact, part of my process was to add some depth and complications, which meant writing completely new chapters.  But, as I was babbling about it to Dani last night, I realized that's what it needed.  I still have about 20,000 words to revise (and some of those scenes will be cut/replaced), but the process is going well.

Takeaways:

• Have a goal, not a deadline:  My deadlines are arbitrary. Originally, I hoped to get this book out there in March. I obviously didn't. Before my retreat, I set my sights on June 1.  I'm not that worried about it now, and I'm not beating myself up about it if I don't get there. One clear thing in my retreat is that this process takes as long as it takes.  Given that something like 2500 new books drop daily, it makes more sense to take my time than to rush to be one of the unknown 2500.  The playing field doesn't really change from day to day. My book can.
• Target Your Listening:  Listen to podcasts and mini-lessons directly related to specific steps of the writing/revision process. Specifically, I listened to Stephen Pressfield's The War of Art Mini-Course and to some specific episodes of DIYMFA Radio, as well as the first three episodes of The Writer's Digest Podcast.  Listening to DIYMFA Radio's Episode 108, Write Your Novel From the Middle, gave me some terminology--the mirror moment--that helped me think through a new chapter that I need to go back and finish/revise. That chapter is a crucial part of the character's growth.
• Find resources that are automatic: Suzie Carr's Writer's Insights series, and Dawn Purcell's season 2 of The Power of Writing both are set up where you get a lesson or interview to listen to each day (The War of Art mini-course does this as well). If something shows up in my in-box each day and if the resource is under 30 minutes long, I am likely to listen to it during a break or while I'm cooking dinner, for instance.
• Free stuff is great, but invest in yourself: I bought a couple of books during my retreat (swag!). Keep an eye on Writer's Digest's website (sign up for it). They run great sales on ebooks and downloads, so the last five books I've purchased I got at over 1/2 off. NOTE: When you order something, they send you a 10% off code that works on sale items, saving you even more.  Thrift Books is also a great place for buying used copies--you can often score them for less than half of the ebook price.  And, don't forget if you're a Prime member that you have until the end of the week to get three months of Kindle Unlimited for $1.99.  They have books on the craft there, too, including Jeff Goins' You are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) and Mark Spencer's Fiction Club. 
• Butt in the Chair: This is not new, but always bears repeating.
• Interact but deliberately: I found two new writing groups on Facebook over the weekend. While my past Facebook group attempts have not been great, these two groups are less focused on sell, sell, sell, and are more focused on helping each other out on the craft. The difference? These groups have in their rules that if you promote a book in the discussion, you get booted. I also cleaned out my Twitter follows to get rid of the indie author groups that promote every single novel that a member puts out with no regard to what followers actually want to read. 

My five days of focus provided me with the reboot I needed. I've got some good habits that I can carry forward, even on days when I have other things going on.