"Show Your Work"

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No!  You're not."

Chris, my partner, is seldom adamant about anything.  But, in this case, he was, and that surprised me.  And tickled me.

What he was adamant about was this:  I'd told him that, over the three-plus years I'd been working on my novel, I'd learned a lot about the writing process.  In that time, I'd written down every one of the things I'd learned on a piece of notepaper.  My initial intention was, after I'd established myself more as a published writer, I'd write a book about how to write a novel, using much of what I'd learned–some of which I'd found in my large collection of writing books, but much of which I'd learned on my own, through the process of sitting down and figuring it out for myself. 

"But," I'd said to Chris, "why wait until then?  Why not start a new blog and share right away, so I can help other writers struggling with the same things?" 

This is where Chris stepped in and said no, I couldn't do it.  What he wanted me to do instead was wait to write the book, then make a little money off it.  I saw some of the wisdom in that–assuming I ever wrote it, it got published, and people actually bought it–and the idea appealed to me.  Making money from what you write is a good thing.  A very good thing. 

And then, months later, I read Austin Kleon's Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, and I changed my mind.

Here's one of many quotable passages from Kleon's book:

Once a day, after you've done your day's work, go back to your documentation and find one little piece of your process you can share.  Where you are in your process will determine what that piece is.  If you're in the very early stages, share your influences and what's inspiring you.  If you're in the middle of executing a project, write about your methods or share works in progress.  If you've just completed a project, show the final product, share scraps from the cutting-room floor, or write about what you learned.  If you have lots of projects out into the world, you can report on how they're doing–you can tell stories about how people are interacting with your work [p. 48].

So that's what this, my second blog, is about:  helping you, fellow writer, learn from what I've learned about the process of writing a novel.  I have so much advice, I'm overwhelmed by the task at hand, and I wonder how I'll ever get it done.  But, like Kleon says, share just one piece every day, and, over time, it will all amount to something.   I'm counting on that.

As I've just started this blog, it looks a little rudimentary–there's not much to see, and it's pretty simple.  But, over time, it will become better organized and more complex.  There will also be a lot more for you to read, and consider, and maybe even use in your writing process.

I hope you'll come back often, and I hope to hear from you.  By all means share what you've learned in your comments.  Help to make this a go-to place for writers, like you and me, to check in often and to help each other on the exciting, and sometimes daunting, journey to becoming published, and successful, writers.

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Austin Kleon's also written another fantastic book called Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative.  Both short books are well worth reading.  

Here's a link to Kleon's website, in case you want to know more: austinkleon.com