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2023, A Writing Year in Review: Bulbs and Beavers (and Pie!)

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2023: A Writing Year in Review. With a picture of a tree, barely standing as it has been gnawed by a beaver, and tulips next to a mailbox.

Last year, in 2022, I had two novels and two short stories published, wore fancy dresses and attended two awards ceremonies, ran a successful Kickstarter for a nonprofit, spent 937 hours writing, and had what is, for writing, a rather glamorous year.

This year was very different.

A hipster writer. He looks at you instead of his page. He might be pensive, but he might be sadness. Perhaps writing requires a certain weight of sadness, at least in 2023.

Above: Peak 2023 writing energy. Deposit photos says he is “hipster.” If I owned that hat, maybe I would be hipster too.

In 2023, I had no books published. I attended no award ceremonies. I spent 880 hours writing (which is lower than the amount spent in 2020, 2021, and 2022). I hit a point in the revisions process where my confidence (as a writer) decided to indulge in clichés and completely shatter, like a Corelle soup bowl on the kitchen floor, shards of glass scattering across two full rooms. (Corelle is made of tempered glass, so it’s not supposed to break easily, but in my house, we’ve broken at least four bowls and plates this year.)

Yet right now, as I look back on another year of writing, I feel good about 2023.

Hours Spent Writing Per Month in 2023, by Katherine Cowley. January: 68. February: 59. March: 82. April: 104. May: 59. June: 85. July: 67. August: 82. September: 68. October: 71. November: 83. December: 50.

This year of writing was like planting bulbs in the fall with the hope that they’ll come up in the spring. Yes, despite the spicy hot pepper-based deer repellant, the deer might still eat all of them, but chances are, next year I’ll have tulips.

A small garden bed of brightly colored tulips.

A picture of my tulips from this spring. Unlike in 2022, when the deer ate all my tulips a few days before they blossomed, in 2023 my tulips survived so they could act as a positive metaphor.

This year of writing was also like a beaver, gnawing on trees. There are lots of trees to gnaw on. There’s a lodge to maintain. There’s pesky, flowing water that must be stopped. Sometimes people put up metal netting so you can’t get to the best trees. Sometimes you take down a whole tree at once, but most of the time, that’s not possible. So you start on a few trees and make some progress, knowing that you’ll have time to do the rest later.

A tree in a marshy area of a pond. It has been gnawed on on both sides by a beaver, yet somehow it stays standing.

These are pictures that I took that show the efforts of the local beavers at the Asylum Lake Nature Preserve in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Every few months, I check on the beavers’ progress.

What trees did I gnaw on this year? Well, there’s a chart for that.

I love charts, I love pie, and I love writing. This collision of all three interests was meant to be.

And now, in classic bar graph form:

Hours Spent Per Writing Project in 2023. New Murder Mystery: 437. Development: 200. Website, etc.: 97. Personal Writing: 50. Short Stories and Essays: 30. Writing Nonprofit: 26. Translations: 18. Submissions: 17. Other Projects: 5.

And, because I like writing, some written details for a few of the categories:

New Murder Mystery (437 hours)

These 437 hours are on top of the 227 hours I spent on this book last year, bringing the total up to 664. This is the most research-intensive, complicated, and challenging book I’ve written. It’s also been like making soup—the components have needed time to stew together, so the flavors develop properly.

Development (200 hours)

  • Conferences: Malice Domestic and the Midwest Mystery Conference
  • Critiquing and writing group
  • Networking
  • Writing craft and mystery genre research
  • Accounting, taxes, and business stuff
  • Planning and considering goals

Website, etc. (97 hours)

Website, newsletters, blog posts, and a few book events! My most popular blog post for the year was on Mary Bennet and Mr. Collins.

Mary Bennet and Mr. Collins. Why didn't they marry? Would they have made a good match?

Submissions (17 hours)

Most of this time was spent applying to an art residency. I didn’t get selected, but I was on the short list, and now I have a very solid concept for a future book that I plan to write.

Looking to 2024

Me with my 2024 planner, which matches my sweater. Maybe I am hipster after all.

I often have a 2-year writing plan, with all my upcoming projects figured out. I don’t right now, and that’s both terrifying and liberating.

I do know that I’ll need to do more revisions on my current mystery novel. I want to write some short stories, and spend a few weeks focusing on reading and doing other things to refill my creative well. I suspect I will start a new book. Will that be a sequel to my current novel or to Mary Bennet? Or something entirely new? Only time will tell.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #60: Getting in the Mood for Writing

#60: Getting in the Mood for Writing

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #60: Getting in the Mood for Writing

There are days when writing comes easily for me: when I’m excited to get started, when I feel a spark, an unstoppable drive to write.

But then there are plenty of times when I have the time to write, when I’ve scheduled and planned out writing time, and I get to the computer and have a difficult time getting started.

Jane Austen had her difficult writing days as well. In a previous post, I discussed how distractions (like visitors and thoughts of mutton) made writing more difficult for her. There were also other days when she found difficulty writing because she was fatigued or because her pen was too hard.

On October 26, 1813, Jane Austen wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra and in her very first paragraph noted: “I am at all in a humour for writing.”

It’s comforting that Jane also had days where she was not in the mood to write. But what’s interesting is that her sentence doesn’t end there: she uses a semicolon. Here’s the full statement:

I am not at all in a humour for writing; I must write on till I am.

For Austen, the solution to not being in the mood for writing is simple: to write.

I’ve found that 95% of the time, this works for me too. If I can sit down and truly write (without getting distracted by twitter or anything else), then I start to feel like writing. A lot of times I set a timer for 30 minutes. I make a commitment to myself: I don’t feel like writing, but I have to do at least 30 minutes. And then I can walk away. But by the end of the 30 minutes, most of the time I am in the mood for writing and keep on going.

The 5% of the time when this doesn’t work for me, there’s something else going on. Mary Robinette Kowal has an excellent blog post titled “Sometimes Writers Block is Really Depression” where she talks about some of these other reasons we get stuck and don’t feel like writing, whether it’s plot problems or depression. Recognizing what the plot problem is can often help me get in the mood for writing. In the case of depression, taking steps like Mary Robinette did can help me improve my mental well being and make realistic goals for myself, which, in turn, can help me be in the mood for writing.

How do you get in the mood for writing? How do you get past the difficulty of starting? It doesn’t have to be Jane Austen’s method, but if you can figure out what works for you, it will help you make more of your writing sessions feel worthwhile. I know some writers who have a song they always listen to before writing, or who meditate for five minutes. I know some writers who think about their story while taking a shower, and then sit down at the page. I know some writers who turn off the internet or hide their phone. Regardless, whether it’s deciding to write until you feel like writing, or using another method, there truly are things you can do to put yourself more in the mood for writing.

If you have other methods that help get you in the mood for writing, please share in the comments!

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Plan out a few writing sessions for the next week. These don’t have to be long. And then when it is time for these sessions, write even if you don’t feel like writing.

Exercise 2: Spend fifteen minutes writing in a form that you don’t normally use to write. This might be in a notebook, in cursive, through dictation, on notecards, etc. Then reflect on the experience: how did this change your writing process and your thoughts about writing?

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #56: Times and Seasons of Creativity

#56: Times and Seasons of Creativity

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #56: Times and Seasons of Creativity

Writers and other creatives often feel the pressure to be creating constantly. Praise is extolled upon those who are able to draft quickly, revise quickly, and publish often.

I am naturally a slow writer. My ideas need time to simmer and develop, and I can’t rush the drafting process. At times, the pressure to be a fast writer has made me feel inadequate or insecure, or I’ve felt jealous of those with a faster process.

At other times, life has interfered with my creativity: sicknesses and other challenges can force creative projects into little scraps of low-energy time, or sometimes even cause creative projects to be put on hold.

This, of course, can be discouraging. However, I’m encouraged by looking at Jane Austen’s life and writing.

Let’s consider a few snapshots of Jane Austen’s writing life:

1787-1799: The Early Years

  • 1787-1793: Juvenilia
  • 1793-1795: Lady Susan
  • 1796-1798: Elinor and Marianne; First Impressions
  • 1798-1799: Northanger Abbey

This is a very productive period of writing for Jane Austen. During her teenage years, she wrote many short pieces of various genres and styles, and she shared these pieces with her family. These works are now known as her Juvenilia.

Then she moved on to longer, more developed works—Lady Susan, Elinor and Marianne, First Impressions, and Northanger Abbey.

1800-1809: Years of Struggle

  • Some revisions of Lady Susan and Northanger Abbey
  • 1804: started The Watsons

This period in Jane Austen’s life stands in stark contrast to the prior years. She did some revisions on both Lady Susan and Northanger Abbey, and while both books were sold to publishers, neither were published. She started the book The Watsons, but then abandoned it, leaving it unfinished. She may have done some additional revisions on her other works, and she did continue to write letters, but it was much slower period of writing for Jane Austen.

Why did she write less?

The answer was simple: Life was difficult for Jane Austen during these years.

First, her father uprooted their family to Bath. Jane Austen did not like living in Bath, and her days were filled with social obligations and responsibilities that were difficult to escape.

Then her father died. His death caused Jane Austen to abandon The Watsons—she could not work on it any longer. It also began a period of severe financial insecurity. Jane Austen moved from place to place, often having to rely on others for a place to stay and struggling to have enough for the basic necessities. It is little wonder that she was not able to make much progress on her writing.

1809-1817: The Chawton Years

  • 1809: Moved to Chawton
  • 1811: Sense and Sensibility
  • 1813: Pride and Prejudice
  • 1814: Mansfield Park
  • 1815: Emma
  • 1817: Persuasion; Sanditon (unfinished)

Jane Austen’s brother Edward had been adopted (became the heir) for distant relatives in Chawton. In 1809, he invited Jane and several other family members to live in a cottage on the estate. Suddenly, Jane Austen had security. She had a home. And she had the space and the time to write.

She revised Elinor and Marianne—which she had originally written between 1796 and 1798—and published it as Sense and Sensibility. She rewrote First Impressions as Pride and Prejudice. And then she wrote three new novels: Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. She began the novel Sanditon, but did not finish it before her death.

Times and Seasons of Writing

We each have times and seasons of writing, and it’s important to treat ourselves with compassion and understanding. We will have times, like the decade in Jane Austen’s life, where it is more difficult to write, where life circumstances create additional challenges for creativity. We might even have years where we cannot actively work on our creative goals.

In another post, I wrote about how even at Chawton, Jane Austen had to actively work to create space for writing in her life. Even in seasons of writing, it takes active work to give time to writing, and writing may still not be easy.

I also like to remember that it’s okay if certain projects take time to reach their final form. Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice are two of the most important novels in English literature, and two of my favorite novels. And they were not written quickly. They required writing and re-envisioning and rewriting over a 17-year period.

Like Jane, life may at times interfere with our writing. But like Jane, we will have fertile seasons of writing. Like Jane, we can tell our stories and share them with the world.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Write the story of your creative journey. What has led you to be the writer you are today? Which times and seasons of your life have been more or less creative? Is there anything from the less creative periods of your life that has helped you with your writing?

Exercise 2: Take a project that you set aside, perhaps years ago. Spend a few minutes considering it. If you were going to rewrite it today, how would you approach it differently?

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #53: Creating Space for Writing

#53: Creating Space for Writing

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #53: Creating Space for Writing

One of the most common questions I am asked about my writing is, “When do you write?” I’m also asked, “How do you get writing done with children?” or “How do you prioritize writing when there are other important responsibilities?”

Part of writing is understanding your process, and what it takes for you to be able to write. This is something that Jane Austen seems to have thought a lot about. On September 8, 1816, she wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra which included the following paragraph:

I enjoyed Edward’s company very much, as I said before, and yet I was not sorry when Friday came. It had been a busy week, and I wanted a few days’ quiet and exemption from the thought and contrivancy which any sort of company gives. I often wonder how you can find time for what you do, in addition to the care of the house; and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard words, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment. Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.

Company and a busy week made writing more difficult for Jane Austen. She needed time for herself, time for quiet, and time without too many obligations. Especially in her years living in Chawton, Jane’s family did much to lift some of her responsibilities in order to give her the time and the mental space for writing.

Jane also prioritized a physical space. She had her own little table, just for her. And when I attended a guided virtual tour of her Chawton house a few weeks ago, the guide explained that several of the windows by the road were boarded up, so she wouldn’t have all the passerbys on the road looking in on her and distracting her.

In the letter, Jane is astonished by Mrs. West, who balances books and family cares: “Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.”

Most of us have things we need to balance, whether it’s family obligations, a full or part time job, school, or endless other responsibilities. These things are part of our lives. They’re not going to go away. But are we letting our heads be full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb? Or are we finding some time that is just ours, where we can let everything else go and give space for creativity?

When my children were pre-school age, I used nap time and movie time just for writing. It didn’t matter if there was a pile of dishes in the sink or a mess on the floor, appointments to schedule, or seemingly-urgent needs. This was my time, no matter what, and I wouldn’t let it be filled with mutton or rhubarb or anything else.

At other times, I’ve done #5amwritersclub so I could write before my mind filled with any other obligations. I’ve worked in coffeeshops. I’ve prioritized attending writing group.

We all have times, like Jane Austen, where we have obligations that prevent us from writing. But it’s important to make space for writing, whether it’s an hour a day, one evening a month, or a weekend retreat twice a year.

I have a variation on the standard writing exercises today—these are more personal reflections, about your personal writing spaces. But first, a few personal writing notes. I wrote an essay on revising for tone for Women Writers, Women[’s] Books. And yesterday, my second novel was released, The True Confessions of a London Spy! It’s exciting to have a new book to share with readers and friends.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Spend a few minutes reflecting on the spaces you have for writing in your life. What gives you mental, physical, and creative space for writing. Do you prioritize giving yourself this space? What is something you could change to help create better spaces for writing in your life?

Exercise 2: Speak to the people in your life about your writing. How do you support the people in your life in their goals? How do they support you in your creative endeavors? Would any adjustments help you better support each other.

Exercise 3: Make a list of the priorities in your life, the things that matter to you, the things that pay the bills, the things that are essential. The goal is not to feel guilty that you have other responsibilities that are not writing. The key is to consider what things truly matter to you most, to give yourself credit for those things and to find meaning in those things. Sometimes non-priority things can be eliminated or shifted to give more space for your key priorities.

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