Reflections on my best AcWriMo yet

Slow writing and creating a hype squad

Well, it’s December. With 31 days left in 2022, AcWriMo and NatMoWriMo are done for another year. Going into November, I knew I wanted to undertake a complete reframing of my book, which would involve a lot of cutting, writing, and rewriting. I also got a grant to start a new project, so I was balancing doing preliminary research and interviews on the new project with my book, along with my every day life of editing and consulting and parenting.

And…it went great! I am perilously close to having an actual draft of the book to send to external readers (even editors—especially editors—need editors!). I have a very clear idea of how to get there, and the energy to keep going until it’s off of my desktop and onto someone else’s for awhile. I am still filled with existential dread about whether it will actually be published, but I am no longer quite as filled with doubt about whether the book will ever actually be written. And, I had time to reflect on the fact that I can make a living writing, reading awesome things that other people write, and drinking coffee, which is a really amazing place to be.

My book, printed out in all of its glory for editing during the last writing retreat

How did I get here? I made 3 decisions that really paid off this time around.

I was my own personal assistant: Instead of just waking up in November and deciding to write every day, I used October to make my November easy - I said no to a lot of things, moved around some optional meetings, did a bunch of work that was neither urgent nor important but that would be annoying if it was still lingering in November. Then, I did all of the research and planning I needed to jump into November. I was basically my own personal assistant in October.

I created a hype squad: I love hosting AcWriMo as a gift to the writing community, but it also helps me. Every day, there are people I am accountable to, which means that I’m more likely to write and to post. And, because of my well-timed “no assholes” rule, everyone in the group was really amazing and supportive of each other, so it was a fun writing group to be apart of. I miss it already.

I embraced slow writing: I am a newcomer to the “slow” movement - slow cooking, slow teaching, slow living. I mean, I live in New York City, I have three kids, I run my own freelancing business - not very much about my life is slow. But I knew that I needed to slow it down: most people cannot write for 30 days straight, but maybe you can think about writing for 30 days straight. Maybe you can let making notes in your phone, or teasing out an idea over coffee, “count” as writing, and you can build a sustainable writing practice that works for you.

Slow writing has meant giving people lots of options about finding rhythms and spaces that work for them, letting people know they can disappear and always come back, and generally creating a space where the goal isn’t just to put thousands of words on the page, but also to lay the foundation for good writing and complicated writing, which takes time and revision. Part of this is an asset-oriented perspective: what writing exists in the world that didn’t before? What are you proud of producing? And then taking all of that and applying it to myself.

What’s next? I have a plan for the book. I am working on an exciting lineup of things for next year to continue to build writing communities. I’m ready for 2023!

Things to look forward to:

My January workshop Revise and (re)Submit is filling up fast, and I’m excited to teach it! If you have a zombie conference paper that you can’t get out of the door, or an R and R that you keep asking for extensions on, or a chapter of a book that you just can’t quite get written - this is for you. Just think - you can check off one of your New Year’s resolutions in the first two weeks of the year! I extended the sale through the weekend, so the code “thanksforwriting” gets you 20% off - and if you don’t use the code, I’ll donate the extra money to the UC Strike Fund.

Also! Do you have a writer in your life that would benefit from some one-on-one consultation or coaching, or would love to take a short course? Or is that writer you? Gift certificates for experiences make great holiday gifts! I’ll even make you a pretty gift certificate on Canva so you have something to wrap.

Finally, later in 2023, I have a lot of fun things up my sleeve - other short courses, a few free writing marathons, and maybe even the first-ever Epilogue Editing writing retreat. And I’ll read some more writing books and tell you all about them. So stay tuned, and please share with anyone in your network that might be interested.

All things good,

Kelly