Change of Plans

It’s been a chaotic summer! I’m still working on establishing a new writing routine, but I’ve been getting closer. I recently returned from a wonderful two-week residency at the Kimmel Harding Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, which I’ll talk about in detail below. After that trip, I started regularly meeting with my critique partner again (thank you for your patience, Ce), which has been huge in terms of setting regular goals and sticking to them.

I’m working on setting goals that are reasonable and realistic, rather than holding myself to expectations based on past seasons of my life. It was both frustrating and freeing to realize that I needed to make that shift. Setting goals that are too lofty results in panic and eventual burnout, something that is both unhealthy and fundamentally unproductive—I should prioritize health for its own merits, but putting things in pragmatic terms helps me get there. I’m working on being gentle with myself without compromising my writing practice.1

I read some great books while I was at my residency, but other than that I’m still behind my normal reading pace. I’m trying to be ok with that—there’s a lot going on in my non-writing life, and I’d rather read when I can really take it in rather than rushing through books in order to meet a goal. Once I get my writing routine set, I’d like to get a reading routine worked out too—they’re two sides of the same coin, after all.

Last month, my goal was to finish a revision of Sibling WIP so that I could share the book with my agent. That did not happen. But I did make other kinds of progress, and I started writing a new novel! Which I will get into below.

I’ve been pretty absent from the online writing community the last few months. It’s been good and necessary to focus on other things, but I’ve also missed it. I’m looking forward to regularly checking in on my favorite substacks and staying more up to date on instagram as well. If you have any news I may have missed, please let me know!

My major focus for the next several months is revising WASP’S NEST for my editor, and I’m really excited to dive in—so far I have been reading her notes and developing strategies, but soon I’ll start making manuscript changes.

I love revision. I would much rather mess about with something that already exists than create it from scratch (though the daydreaming phase of generative drafting is unparalleled). I also love creative collaboration. One of the best things about having an agent and now an editor is collaborating! It’s feeling so productive in part because our goals, taste, and overall vision for the project are aligned. I’ve been very fortunate in that regard.

As I mentioned, I spent two weeks in August at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Cari, the Residency Assistant, and Amy, the Executive Director, were so helpful and welcoming, and I’m forever grateful for the time and space I was granted to focus on my writing. If you’re an emerging writer interested in applying for residencies but unsure where to start, I’d love to share anything about my experience applying for residencies that you may find helpful, including all the tips people shared with me when I started applying—please feel free to reach out directly! You can email me at [email protected].

I arrived in Nebraska City with an ambitious work plan. The roadmaps I’d created for the book—the narrative outline and my drafting plan—weren’t overly detailed. They provided just enough guidance to motivate me. I knew I’d reassess and rework my goals during my stay at KHN, but I didn’t anticipate the extent to which my path would deviate from what I’d envisioned.

I worked on revising Sibling WIP for about five days before acknowledging that it was time for me to put the project aside. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, and it took me a while to identify why I was feeling so stuck. I realized there were two major reasons: first, that the project was feeling too similar to WASP’S NEST in terms of POV and structure, and second, that the themes and plot were too close to home emotionally. I had actually set the book aside once already for this reason. I thought I was ready to get back into it. I was wrong.

If it hadn’t been for that second reason, I would have refocused and tried to figure out what wasn’t working about the structure. But ultimately I came to the conclusion that I needed to shelve the project. I felt pretty guilty about that choice as I was in the process of making it. I knew it was the right decision, but I felt weak and undisciplined for needing to make it. It’s hard to silence that nagging inner voice. To appease it, I tried to talk myself out of what I knew to be true—that it wasn’t the right project for me to be working on at this time.2

Ultimately, I write because I love it. It helps me make sense of the world, sure, but it’s also a huge source of personal satisfaction and joy. The fact that I’m able to write in a professional capacity, even part time, isn’t something I ever want to take for granted. But at the end of the day it’s a creative field—one that involves a significant emotional component. Putting this book aside doesn’t mean I’m quitting. I’m regrouping. I’d love to revisit it in a few years, or decades, whenever I’m ready. For now, I’m throwing energy behind other projects.

I mentioned that I started writing a new novel during this residency. Over the past several years I’ve had two ideas for campus novels floating around in my head, and after a very clarifying late night chat with my fellow KHN residents the pieces for one of them fell into place. I have a working title that I will keep to myself, so I’ll be referring to it as Campus WIP here. I’m also working on WASP’S NEST revisions over the next couple months, but Campus WIP will be my drafting stage project. Given that one project is in the beginning stages and the other is in the very end stages, I’m not worried about them intermingling. I’ve learned I can’t draft more than one project at a time, but drafting and revising are two totally different beasts, and having the option to jump from one to the other helps me keep momentum generally.

My goal is to take a research trip in the spring—the book is going to be set in Southern Maryland about two hours from where I live. The main character is a science professor, so I have plenty of research to keep me busy for now!

Have you ever set aside a work in progress for similar reasons? Did you end up returning to it later, or not? I’d love to hear about it, if you want to share!

Speaking of books (we always are), do you have any highly anticipated new releases coming out this fall? The new Sally Rooney (which comes out today! my preorder is on the way) is at the top of my list. Drop me a line in the comments if there’s anything you’re excited about that should be on my radar.

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

K