The only way I can get anything done is to break it into as small pieces as I possibly can. Thinking about all that goes into novel writing is overwhelming, even as I round up on finishing the first draft of my current novel. It’s so easy to get paralyzed when I consider everything, I have to do to get even to the beta reader stage. I’ve addressed some of this in a previous post but as I come up on finishing the first draft for the sequel to Savior of the Damned, I wanted a chance to expand on that.  

My first draft has something like three passes before it’s done. The first pass is just getting the parts I know out. The second one is filling in the second POV (which I often leave for later as I can get bogged down trying to fill it all out at once) and then the last pass is filling in all the areas I dropped MORE INFO into the document to finish later.  

But it’s more than that. I’ll let it sit a while before coming back, then I’ll add notes in the form of comments as I read through it, being careful not to get bogged down in editing. After that, I’ll do one of two things; fix the comments first, or focus on rewriting the sections I need to reword to sound better. A lot of places I’ll skip over with a “and then they arrived, and then stuff happened” because focusing on the details later helps keep me from getting overwhelmed on the first draft. After those things are done, I’ll read it again and make notes of anything unresolved. Maybe there are loose plot threads to pick up later, or things I added that went nowhere. Those get written into my notebook instead of the document itself because that’s what I prefer. After that, I’ll run it through a grammar checker for spelling and cut most of the adverbs. Only after that is done will I ask my beta readers to take a look at it.  

The reason I work this way is because each of those small steps keeps my brain from overloading. I’m an allistic neurodivergent and I’ve learned that if I look at the big picture I’ll freeze and not do anything. But if I focus on one small aspect of each pass, it goes much smoother and faster. It’s something I’ve struggled with my whole life and this is the most reliable way to get things done. It applies to such much beyond writing, but it was writing that helped me figure out how I best work.  

What’s helped the most beyond those things though is routine. Having a schedule to follow every day helps me get so much more done. Having a set time to write, to do chores, and schedule appointments all help me get more done as well. The problem with waiting for motivation is you’ll often wind up just delaying. Having a schedule helps foster discipline, which is more reliable in getting things done.  

When the words don’t want to come despite that, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I’ve touched on before. Having certain playlists can help get me in the mood. Venting into a document can help too. Complaining about not being able to write or whatever thing is stressing me out can help kick my motivation into high gear, and it helps a lot. Allowing my first draft to be rough helps a lot too. For me, it doesn’t have to be perfect right off the bat. That’s what revisions are for.  

Sometimes, though, no matter what I do, it doesn’t get done. And that’s okay. I try to write every day, and most days I get at least a couple hundred words done. But sometimes it just won’t come. Those times I do other things. I’ll read, or I’ll work on other things. I’ll work on marketing, I’ll edit something different, or other things that are writing adjacent. Blog posts always need to be written, or short stories, or even just taking an occasional day off to play video games can help me recharge.  But I do my best to do at least something productive every day. My mental health doesn’t always allow that, and that’s okay. But I try, and that’s all anyone can really ask.