How Can A Writer Survive 2020

Well there we are, one more year. In no time, the Earth will have turned the Sun again and it will be time to reset the odometer. Another year, 365 more days and many others that lie ahead. Now we are in time to make new plans as a writer and all that … Just like you did last year, right? And surely the previous one and the other one too…

This was already summed up very well by the great Julio Iglesias when he sang that of “life goes on the same.” And it is like that, no matter how much you hope things improve this year … The sad reality is that, surely, they will continue the same. You know; changes or forces or never come. Nature tends towards immobility, a body does not change by itself, and it needs an external force to push it.

You can apply this to whatever you want, from your relationships, your “active” job search and of course to writing. If you do not move, if you are not the one who sets in motion the forces of change, things do not usually fall from the sky and changes do not usually occur by themselves … At least good changes – the sticks reach you even if you hide underground-.

The purposes of the writer

I’m not very into New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I’m not at all purposeful, I don’t like choking on grapes, and I hate cava and, honestly… I’m too lazy, I already do too many things, why the hell would I want to propose more?

I was among the Resistance for a long time, but I know for good fact that every day more people, like me, stop making plans for the New Year.

We writers love New Year’s resolutions, we love imposing on ourselves titanic tasks that we then leave halfway or that, directly, we don’t even start. I understand you, really, I know that when you come to December you feel guilty for all the things you haven’t done and, suddenly, in the throes of morale, you consider writing more, better and for longer.

“This year I am going to finish two novels and publish several stories in anthologies and magazines.” Then almost everything stays in borage water and, if you are able to finish just one of those novels, you are already satisfied. There are also those who are dedicated to telling us with great fanfare, the number of words they have written per year, as if they were to be decorated for having written more than the neighbor…

I, who am an agony and an ashen, prefer not to start the year loaded with tasks. I completely spend starting each year thinking about what I have to do, looking at the horizon when the sun has just risen.

I already said it last year, you don’t have to make so many plans and so many resolutions. All you have to do is write every day. Even if it’s very little, even if it’s only 500 words a day. You will see how in this way, without pressuring you or forcing you to meet deadlines and demands, things will go away … It may be slow, but they will come out, which is what matters.

How to survive 2020 as a writer

Well, as I do not want to be the one who puts you in the wheel, if you put the New Year’s resolutions and this year you want to set some goals as a writer, I am going to give you some tips or resolutions so that you can face 2020 as a writer. So you can get ready, let’s go.

1. Buy yourself a new notebook

Or many, whatever you want. I always have a lot of brand-new notebooks in my closet and, to tell you the truth, opening one and writing the first letter in it is still one of the best sensations in the world (surprise! I have a little heart too). Buy a notebook and allow yourself to think about what you will do with it. Imagine the stories you will tell…

2. Look back

Any past time was better, you know. How did you do in the last year? Did you write a lot? Little bit? You have improved? Have you changed something? Maybe you gave up science fiction for horror and did well … Or you have abandoned genre literature to enter more classic fields. You may have published for the first time or have won a literary competition. Everything counts, all that experience is what is building you as a writer, and you cannot ignore it.

3. Put an end and end

Finish everything you have half. Before starting new projects, finish any novels, short stories, or articles you have started. Clean the drawer before moving on, make room in your mind for new things.

This also helps you for things that are not giving you anything. Does your job stress you out? Is your blog a waste of time? Is it novel that has stalled stinks? Well, take it up the ass! So clear. Get rid of everything that is left over, work only on what motivates you and gives you something.

4. Time for reflection

Speaking of things that you have left half … Why have you left them half? What has not worked? Was it history? Was it the characters? Didn’t you have time and have you dedicated yourself to other things?

You have to start deciding what is worth it and what is not, but you also have to be able to identify the problems that have led you to put aside each of your projects. Only in this way will you be able to face and complete your new projects, because you will be able to see what is wrong before all your work is loaded and solve it.

5. Rest

Have you been dead for a year? Have you spent two years up to your eyebrows with your blog, your work and what you write? Have you been in the tide of content for so long that you feel on the edge? ¿ Tired of social networks, blogs and all that noise? Can’t stand the beat anymore and are you tired of writing? Well stop. It’s that easy.

No one is going to judge you for stopping writing. If you get tired, if you feel like you’ve reached the limit, quit before you really get burned. You will always have time to write again and, surely, when you do, you will do it with more enthusiasm.

Make yourself a Macarena and give joy to your body. If you need to rest, rest.

6. Be productive

I have written a lot this year. Let’s see … I always write a lot because I work writing texts and managing content for blogs … but this year I have written a lot of literature. Something that he had not achieved in a long time.

My big problem is that I am not productive. I have written a lot, yes, but I have not been productive at all. I have spewed out a savage of words for a few months and then I have been dry (or relaxing) for as many. That is not effective work, quite the contrary.

You have to be able to identify your periods of greatest efficiency and always work when you are most productive. Since I have been in the agency, I am not able to sit down to work when I get home (I spend 9 hours writing and in front of a computer, you will tell me), so I try to write in the dead times during my work or before go to work. They are my best hours.

Find your productive moment, do it and you will see the change.

7. Your passion

One of the things that annoys me the most is doing things that I don’t like or that don’t motivate me. Writing, for a long time, became monotonous. Right now, it’s my job and it’s nothing more than that … This thought has led me to spend several months without writing anything good … I’m too unhappy.

If you are going to write, if you are going to sacrifice your free time, your hours of rest… At least do something that you really like. If you don’t like horror, stay out of it. If you are not 100% fan of science fiction, do not write it … If you do, you will end up hating to write or, at least, you will get tired and want to quit. I tell you because it has happened to me. It happens to me.. It is happening to me.

Write about anything that you are passionate about and you will never feel tired, you will never faint and above all, you will not lose your motivation.

8. Music soothes the beasts

One of the few things that make my day more bearable is music. Luckily, at work I can listen to music all day. From the time I arrive until I leave, I plug in my headphones and I don’t stop listening to music. It calms me down and makes time go by faster.

Make a playlist with your favorite songs. Or make several, one to focus, another for when you blog, create one for when you work on your novel, one for when you edit.

Music is a great complement to writing. Listening to your favorite songs can change your emotional state and it does not affect writing as much as our emotions. A text colored with the emotions of the writer will reach your readers much more easily, because they will empathize and feel identified.

9. Try new things

I have to confess that I am one of those people who resist change. It’s a bad mania that I have … I tend to mistrust things that I don’t know. Luckily, due to my work, I am forced to try many new things, so little by little, I change the chip.

I have always worked in OpenOffice. I love it, it has everything and, for what I use it, it works great for me. This year though, I gave up and tried Scrivener… Right now, I couldn’t live without it, the damn processor has changed my life. It was all thanks to David Olier who has become Scrivener’s ambassador to the blogging community.

Scrivener has not only made my life easier when it comes to writing manuscripts … It has also helped me a lot to grow as a professional ghost writer. Thanks to Scrivener, I have started using rundowns in my novels and have stopped going a bit crazy. The compass is fine, until you get lost in unfamiliar terrain and need your map.

I took his course and, as he’s a friend, I was also able to squeeze him with questions and stuff. Today, although I still use OpenOffice for some things (single scenes and texts that I write at work), Scrivener has become THE program. You can’t write without it. You shouldn’t write without it.

10. Get rid of fears

The bad thing about writing is that it is not a job in which they make you a contract and you have your payroll. Writing and being a writer in general … It’s a passion, a dream, an idea … But it is rarely considered a real job. Writers, as a general rule, have to starve … Or that’s what they want.

Being a writer is not easy. In the first place, we are never clear when we are writers, when do we write? When do we publish something? And if it is when we publish… From how many readers can we consider ourselves writers? Being a writer is not easy. I am a Social Media Manager and Content Manager, and I am not ashamed to say it, it puts it in my contract, it is what I do. However, being a writer is always linked to doubt.

And not only has the impostor syndrome affected us, what goes, also anxiety. When we begin to write we have many fears, doubts assail us and, if we let them gnaw, they may end up paralyzing us, distancing us from our goal as writers.

If you want a good goal for this year, letting go of your fears, being braver could be a good start. Start telling people in 2020 that you are a writer that you write and don’t be afraid to share your texts. No matter how green they are, let other eyes read them and let the criticism and advice pass.

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