Tip #2: Tactics for getting and keeping your writing moving.
It’s a truth: the longer things take, the longer they take. One lesson I learned while writing for companies is that delays beget more delays. If you want to get something done, keep moving at all times. I’ll give one example. Once I worked on a short brochure that took such a long and slow route through the multiple levels of approval (department, management, marketing, and legal) that by the time it was ready to print, the company had a new logo and a new location. So it was back to the drawing board for the brochure.
In writing a personal or family history or a memoir, the same thing can happen. The longer it takes, the greater the risk of never finishing. As life continues to happen, the project can be never-ending. Here are some practical ways you can keep the work from bogging down.
- Set a realistic schedule for research and writing. Place the emphasis on realistic. If you work full time, over-scheduling can be a recipe for failure. Every evening from 9 to 10:30 PM. Every Saturday morning from 5 to 9 AM. The last Sunday of every month for 6 hours. Whatever you decide, stick to it. Reserve the time for this important work alone. And if you have to miss a session, make it up on another day or by adding on time to future work sessions.
- Have some short easy tasks at hand for periods of extra time. For example, doing some background reading, labeling photos, organizing and filing materials, or proofing some pages are important tasks that you can do in half-hour increments.
- If you have lengthy commute, take the train instead of driving so you can review chapters you have written on the way to work and back.
- Or if you must drive, give yourself a topic or memory for the drive, talk into a voice recorder, and have the recording transcribed. Or transcribe it yourself. Transcribing takes time but it gives you a chance to think and have new insights.
- Enroll in a memoir course, join a writing group, or form a writing group of your own. If we make a commitment in public and to other people, we are more likely to keep it.
- Engage a personal historian to interview you and work with you to get the history written, designed, and printed. If you care more about completing the book and having it to share than you do about actually writing it yourself, a professional partner can be a “life saver.” Check out the Association of Personal Historians for professionals in your area and for other helpful resources.
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