I just did a post on social media about the tenacity it takes to keep going with writing. I think tenacity is just one element, another is faith—I guess faith helps fuel the tenacity. You have to have complete and utter faith that you are going somewhere with all this tenacity. That the returning to the work again and again isn’t just you repeating empty and meaningless behavior, but that you’re actually progressing and going somewhere with the journey.

Coming out of speculative fiction, I never wrote for children. Since I took a sharp turn and started writing for children, my agent has encouraged me to try different children’s book formats. So I decided to try my hand at a picture book. I was sure I could succeed (even though writing short is incredibly challenging), but I wasn’t sure how, and I wasn’t sure what it would take.

Lately, I’ve had a strange impatience with thinking and ideating. Words and worlds have a funny way of not mirroring a brainstorm when you try to pin them on the page. So I’ve started favoring just getting to work. If it’s a novel idea, I want to write an outline. If it’s something super short, I want to write a draft. Writing for me is an interactive experience. It doesn’t just obey my ideas, lol. It has its own way when I come to the page. So instead of trying to know it all, I like to get it down and see what shape it takes.

What that means is I have to be patient with the outcome. I’ve learned that I write from the outside in. Every early draft is like a proof of concept. The writing may not be particularly elegant or interesting. I’m more interested in the form and function of the piece. Does it fly? Once I know it has wings, then I’m reading to start tinkering with the craft, tightening the lines, and mining for gold.

Oh, how things have changed. As a younger writer, I wouldn’t let anyone see anything I was working on it if wasn’t tight, if I hadn’t figured it all out. Once when an editor asked to see an early draft of an essay that I was working on for her, I was aghast! I can’t let you see that, I said. She patiently explained that she was there to help guide. She could help me see where the gold was.

Fast forward to today, and I am happy to turn in a whole novel draft with imperfect writing. I’ll say in my cover note, don’t worry about the craft right now, talk to me about the ship—is it sturdy? Does it sail? It’s a relief to not try to perform on all fronts at all times. I can just take it all one step at a time. With a project as big as a novel, I need the space to be floppy and fail in one area while I’m attending to another. It helps me move on.

Which brings be back to my agent. I sent her a story for a picture book manuscript. She had edits. I let the piece sit until I had space and time in my schedule and did another draft. Getting less than stellar feedback was demotivating in the moment, but knowing the length was so short helped me continue to explore. In between novel drafts and in quiet moments, I did draft after draft until we found our way into a beautiful place.

Draft 4 holds the promise and now it’s time for craft. Patience and tenacity are the perfect pair. Believing that you’ll get there, and having the patience to allow the work to develop is a godsend. So much of the creative process is allowing yourself to be led—and promising to stay on the journey until you get to the destination. On the picture book, I hope to be rounding the bend to the end soon. Hoping the same for my novel in progress. Draft 5 for the win!

Onward!

—K.