Whipping Writer’s Whiplash

with guest Susanne Dietze.

This past year has been an exciting one, with eight contracts due in a fourteen-month spread. Eight is great, but the projects often overlapped, which resulted in something I’ve named Writer’s Whiplash.

Do you know what I mean? Think of writing each individual story as cruising down a unique story highway (you can also call it a “story universe” but we’re sticking with the automotive metaphor, so bear with me). Today, you’re traversing the road for your current project. You’re driving at a comfortable speed. The scenery is familiar; you’re traveling with character companions you know well; you know where you’ve been and where you’re headed.

Then—cue the squealing breaks! 

You receive edits for a story you already turned in, and they’re due in seven days! Or you get a call that an editor wants a revise & resubmit on a proposed project, pronto! Or, as happened to me once, in one week you get edits for one story, galleys for another, a request for possible cover art ideas, while a deadline looms. 

In these situations, when time is of the essence, we do not have the luxury of staying the course on Story Highway #1 and reaching the destination before turning our cars onto Story Highway #2. We must change course immediately. Kick the characters out of the car, promise to pick them up later, and do a 180 onto Story Highway #2, burning rubber as we go.

But oh—I feel dizzy. When I have to slam on the brakes and turn immediately onto a new story highway, the car goes one way, but my brain is still going another direction. That’s when it hits. I go blank. I wonder where I am, who I’m with, and where I’m supposed to go. 

This is Writer’s Whiplash. 

It’s jarring, confusing, and maybe even panic-inducing. Maybe you’re one of those writers who has no problem with this, and I confess, the degree to which I experience Writer’s Whiplash has varied by situation. Sometimes it’s a minor pain in the neck. Sometimes I need a neck brace and a blankie.

But we’re valiant authors! We persevere, and Writer’s Whiplash is sometimes part of the business. Here are a few ways I handled my Whiplash:

Pull Over

The moment Writer’s Whiplash starts, stop what you’re doing. Pull off your Story Highway and take a pit stop. How?

I suggest a physical and a mental break. The amount of time your pit stop takes can depend on how soon a deadline looms, but if you have a full day between projects, take it. If you’ve only got five minutes, take it. Use the time by:

• Getting up and doing something unrelated to writing (laundry, exercise, starting dinner, etc) to help your brain shift gears.

•  Praying for wisdom and direction. God gave you these stories! Ask Him to help you write what He’d have you write!

Use a Map

I am a broken record when I come on Seekerville: organization was key for me when it came to managing multiple deadlines. I couldn’t have done it if I didn’t have ready-made tools on hand to use as a map to remind me where I was going.

• First, I leave myself a trail of breadcrumbs on Story Highway #1, so I know how to find my way back. I do this by jotting notes in my manuscript (in all caps, marked with asterisks) that tell me what should come next in the plot, what’s the mood, etc. Then I get out my premade map for Story Highway #2 so I know where to go.

• What is this map, you might ask? It’s my notes on the plot, which I did in advance. This doesn’t need to be finely detailed. A synopsis is fine for some people, but I need more. Before I start a story, I use an excel spreadsheet to block out the basics of the plot. I use a column for each chapter, headed with a note of what needs to happen at that particular point of the story (point of no return, black moment, etc.). Another option I’ve used is typing up rough paragraphs of what will happen in each chapter. Either way, I print them out and then I write notes all over them as I write, because things do change and evolve, but I still have the skeleton in place.

• Don’t forget your characters. They should ride along with you in the car, but you may need to become reacquainted with them, so I make notes on them, too. Some authors like a sheet that describes each character—looks, personality, etc. Include horses, dogs, etc.—Writer’s Whiplash can erase them from your memory! When I was working on eight stories, that meant not only eight heroes and heroines, but their pets, horses, parents, siblings, kids, etc., all with distinct personalities and traits. If I hadn’t organized them, I might well have confused a few of them.

Use Landmarks

When we’re driving, we know to look for certain things to help us know where we are. The same is true in writing, and I’ve found that engaging the senses when I’m on a Story Highway can help me when I need to get back on that particular road. Some of these landmarks are:

• Visuals. I’m a visual person, so I make a Pinterest board for each of my stories. I use photos of scenery, houses, dogs, horses, gowns, and characters so I can return to them later for reference. 

• Sound. Some people don’t write to music, and not all who do can write to anything with lyrics. Find what works for you: sound or silence, but if you write to music, here’s an idea. Choose a “soundtrack” unique to each story. I don’t mean using a particular movie soundtrack, per se, but one of your own making that evokes the mood, feelings, and sense of place you need for each Story Highway. I had particular albums that I listened to for each Story Highway I traveled. That way, when I played one album on my phone, it would instantly make me think of the Story Highway I paired it with. 

• Scent. Smell is the fastest sensory trigger to memory. It can take us back to a place and time we haven’t thought about in years. Try assigning a scent to each story freeway (think of it as a car air freshener!). This can be a scented candle, the aroma of a coffee blend, the lavender blooming right outside your window, or maybe something else. When you were in the groove on one story freeway, tangerines were in season—now the smell of tangerine can take you right back.

Writer’s Whiplash may be unavoidable at times, but it’s manageable—and it’s also proof that we are blessed to have multiple projects and opportunities. 

I’ve found organization to help, but do you have any tips to help me cope with Writer’s Whiplash in the future? I’d love to hear what you do!

Leave a comment today and you could win a copy of My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho: Rebecca’s Plight. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho: Rebecca’s Plight


Journey now to Ruby City, Idaho of 1866 where...

A Marriage Mishap Creates an Awkward Love Triangle in this Silver Mining Town

Looking forward to a quiet life and a full stomach, mail-order bride Rebecca Rice is pleased to marry her shopkeeper intended, Mr. Fordham, until the justice of the peace calls him Thaddeus, not Theodore—proceeded by the title Deputy.

Is it possible to marry the wrong man?


When the newlyweds realize they’ve married the wrong partners with similar names, an annulment seems in order—and fast, since Rebecca’s true intended is impatient to claim her as his own, not to mention Rebecca would never marry a lawman like her father. But when the legalities take longer than expected, Rebecca wonders if Tad wasn’t the right husband for her all along. . . .

Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's the award-winning author of a dozen new and upcoming historical romances. A pastor's wife and mom of two, she loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, the beach, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. You can visit her on her website, www.susannedietze.com, and sign up for her newsletter for an occasional cheery hello: http://eepurl.com/bieza5

Managing Madness: Meeting 8 Deadlines in 12 Months

with guest Susanne Dietze.

 

One of the best Christmas presents a writer can get is her first novel contract, which is what I received in late 2015. Around that time I also received three novella contracts, and WOW, was I deliriously happy.

Then I got even happier. I received a contract for a novel which required revision, and subsequently three more opportunities to join proposals which turned into novella contracts—and with one exception, which is due in a few weeks, they were all due in 2016. 

Some authors are incredibly prolific and creative. Maybe you’re one of those and could give me advice. I’d be grateful! Because happy as I was by the work, opportunity, and the gift of contracts, I was so scared about meeting eight deadlines in a year’s time that I couldn’t sleep. How could I write eight stories well, without sacrificing family time, sanity, or a grateful perspective?

They key for me was organization. If you ever find yourself facing the unexpected blessing of several deadlines and you’re not sure how to manage your work, here’s what worked for me. And although I did lose sleep, it was from fretting, never from pulling an all-nighter. 

Maybe a few of these tips will work for you, too.

• Before you do anything else, determine your average daily word count. Average is the key word. How many words can you write when you are living everyday life (working a day job, shuttling kids, etc.)? Write that number on a paper and surround it with stars. It is your magic number. 

• Use that magic number to determine how long it will take to write your contracted books. It’s time for math, folks. Over the phone, my agent and I got out our calculators. We added up the total word count I needed to meet with all of my contracts (Book 1 Word Count + Book 2 Word Count, and so on). Then we divided that total by my average daily word count. The quotient is the number of days it will take to meet the total word count. Write down that number.

• Appreciate that number, but you will not meet it. You are not a robot. You will get sick, your kid will graduate high school and you will be a basket case (ahem), your oven will break—so you need to pad your writing schedule. Add a few weeks per book for these types of days, plus vacation. 

• Get out the calendar and block off the allotted time to be spent on each project. I also used an Excel spreadsheet to show me what I needed to work on month by month. 

• Ready to write? Not yet. Add time for plotting each story. A few days, a week? You know best how long it takes you to plot. 

• “But I’m a pantster,” you protest. Alas, I suggest you plot. Yes, it’s normal to learn more about your story and characters as you go along, which requires adaptation, but all I can say is, the deeper I plotted before I started writing, the faster the writing itself went—and below, I’ll give you another good reason to plot.

• While you’re plotting, organize your characters. Eight books meant eight heroes and eight heroines, plus villains, best friends, children, brothers, horses, and pets—all with distinct personalities. I created story boards on Pinterest for each book to help me keep these characters separate, but you can do whatever works best for you. 

• Here’s why I suggest you plot and organize your characters: you will likely have to set your current project aside midstream to work on revisions or edits for another. I call this Writer’s Whiplash because it’s jarring to bounce between story universes. In the span of thirty-one days this past autumn, I had two deadlines, and then received edits for a third story. That’s three story universes I had to dash between in a month’s time. My plot outlines reminded me where I was in a story and where I was headed when I was tugged away; my Pinterest boards offered a quick, visual way to become reacquainted with my characters.

• Now you can write. Shannon Hale likens first drafts to shoveling sand into the sandbox so that later you can build a castle with it. I so agree. While the writing is easy some days, other days I struggle, but there’s no time to procrastinate. If I must, I write down what the scene will be about, move ahead, and come back later. Just keep writing.

• Be good to your critique partners, your family, and everyone who is helping you in this season of busy blessings.

• Take care of yourself. Ask friends to pray for you. Read to relax, renew, and absorb good writing so you can be inspired to produce good writing. You’ve scheduled in a few mental health days, too, so take advantage of them. 

• Be grateful for your blessings. Remember when you all you wanted was a contract? I worked for over seven years on my new release before it was accepted. Having a contract—or eight—is a remarkable thing to rejoice over! So celebrate!

What about you? Do you have any tips to write a lot, fast?

Susanne is generously giving away a copy of The Reluctant Guardian to one commenter! Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's the award-winning author of a dozen new and upcoming historical romances. A pastor's wife and mom of two, she loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, the beach, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. You can visit her on her website, www.susannedietze.com, and sign up for her newsletter for an occasional cheery hello: http://eepurl.com/bieza5

Pre-order your copy here.

The Reluctant Guardian 

When Gemma Lyfeld inadvertently interrupts a dangerous smuggling operation in her English village, she's rescued by a mysterious Scottish spy. Now with criminals after her and her hopes for an expected marriage proposal recently dashed, she will make her society debut in London. But not without the man tasked with protecting her… 

Covert government agent Tavin Knox must keep Gemma safe from the criminals who think she can identify them—a mission he never wanted. But as he escorts her and her rascally nephews around London, the lovely English lass proves braver than he ever imagined. Suddenly, the spy who works alone has one Season to become the family man he never dreamed he'd be.

Links:

www.susannedietze.com

www.Facebook.com/SusanneDietzeBooks

Twitter @SusanneDietzee

Overcoming Fear in Writing

with guest blogger Susanne Dietze . 

In 2013, I attended my first ACFW conference. I was a Genesis finalist, and I was eager to meet my agent and my cyber-friends in person. I registered, bought airline tickets, found a dress for the gala, planned a costume for the genre dinner…and then it hit.

Uneasiness. Difficulty sleeping. Pounding heart—you know, all the things our characters experience when they experience fear.

Suddenly, I was afraid to:

• Leave my kids.
• Fly.
• Meet my friends and agent, because they might not like me once they spent five minutes in my non-cyber company.
• Meet new people (ditto).
• Speak to editors, who might judge my proposals as stupid, and then forever associate my name with dumb ideas.
• Lose the Genesis.
• Win the Genesis.

And so on. I was a freak show, and utterly embarrassed about how I felt. Don’t I trust God? Aren’t I an adult with a modicum of social skills? What on earth is wrong with me?

But fear, as we all know, isn’t always rational. The part of our brains that registers danger, the amygdala, receives sensory information before the thinking part of our brains, the prefrontal cortex, does. That means our bodies react to stress before our brains can judge the validity of our fear. This is a good thing when something life-threatening occurs—say, someone swerves in front of you in traffic.

It’s not always helpful in non-life-threatening situations, though. Like writing. And we writers have managed to come up with our own particular fears:

• Blank Page Syndrome (fear of sitting down at the computer to start something new)
• Aptitude Anxiety (fear one’s skill is insufficient)
• Rejection Trepidation (fear one’s novel will be turned down)
• Dead Dream Disorder (fear of persistent rejection and no publication ever)
• Success-o-phobia (fear of the unknown world of published authors)
• Anti-Climax-Complex (fear of poor reviews or sales once one is published)
• Follow-Up Foreboding (fear of not meeting earlier successes)

Perhaps you could add a few things to the list, too.

Putting ourselves and our literary babies out there is a daunting thing, no argument. But living in fear isn’t healthy, either. If we let our amygdalas go wild for a prolonged period, we can develop chronic stress from all the anxiety we’re experiencing. That means lower immune function, higher blood pressure, and other physical tolls—not to mention the damage it can do to our emotional and spiritual health.

It’s not always easy to take charge of our fears, however.

My ACFW Conference Fear Beast was challenged when I shared my feelings with my friend, Karen. She marveled, “What an opportunity!”

I thought, yes, ACFW is a good opportunity career-wise, but Karen hadn’t finished.

“What an opportunity to let God meet you in your fears and help you overcome them!” 

That’s when I looked at my fears differently, as a motivator rather than a hindrance. A few things I learned:

• Do not be ashamed of your fear. Instead, give thanks for it, because it can be used to bring you closer to God. Paul puts it like this: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor 12:9). If we allow it, our weaknesses can set the stage for God to intervene!

• Handle immediate fears using techniques like deep breathing or meditating on a Scripture verse that helps you focus on what is true. One I like? Matthew 28:20: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

• Talk to someone trustworthy. Sometimes, articulating our emotions helps us to process them.

• Respond to your fear. Each of the fears listed above requires work to overcome. If you’re procrastinating because you’re facing a blank page, the best way to remedy that problem is to put something down on paper (you can revise later). If you think your craft could use some help (don’t we all?), get a book, attend a workshop, and/or join a crit group. 

• If fears won’t go away, remember some fears require work and time to overcome. Choose not to dwell in fear—repeatedly, if you must. Some people picture themselves in a boat, pushing all their worries overboard. Others picture themselves handing their worries to Jesus. 

• Understand the consequences of living in fear. We’ll never final in a contest or sign a contract if we don’t write or submit. What a shame it would be to live our lives wondering what would’ve happened had we taken the risk. 

• Accept that failure and rejection are part of the business. I hate how it feels to receive rejections and sad contest scores, but some editors and contest judges were quite helpful and showed me areas I could improve in my writing.

I can still be a bit of a Fraidy Cat, but just so you know, back in 2013 I went to ACFW. I left my kids. I flew. I met friends, my agent, some editors, and lots of new people (and they were all very nice!). I even won the Genesis. Since then, I’ve signed two contracts with a dream publisher, Barbour. None of those amazing, praiseworthy things would have ended in success had I chosen fear over opportunity.

Wherever you are in your journey, I encourage you to be brave today!

Serious Q: What writing fear plagues you most? 
Silly Q: What is scarier: spiders, snakes, or clowns? 

Susanne Dietze is a pastor’s wife and mom who loves fancy-schmancy tea parties and travel. She began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today she writes in the hope of encouraging and entertaining others. You can visit her on her website, www.susannedietze.com.

Susanne is offering a copy of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection here on Seekerville, (Winner announced in the Weekend Edition)but readers can also enter to win two more prize packages today: one celebrates the release of her novella, Love’s Reward, and the other celebrates the release of the collection with prizes from each of the authors. Visit www.susannedietze.blogspot.com to see how!

Follow Suzanne here:

Website: www.susannedietze.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanneDietzeBooks
Blog: www.susannedietze.blogspot.com
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13657688.Susanne_Dietze



Love’s Reward, from The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection:

A rich man’s joke, offering a monetary reward for the capture of a shy architect’s heart—but the game is on for every female in town except a charity-minded miss who won’t compete for the bachelor’s affections. Just his bank account.

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