Quality Writing vs. Quantity

In the last two crazy, turned-upside-down years of my life, I have written not nearly as much as I wanted to. As a result, I have vacillated between mercilessly berating myself and doling out enough free rein to hang by my neck from a redwood. But in all honesty, when life’s biggest stressors hit you one after the other – ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom — you really have to pause and breathe, assimilate the changes and make new plans, and allow yourself the room to get back on track without the constant, harping guilt — courtesy of yours truly.

Though quantity lacked, it hasn’t been fruitless. Far from it. In between this wildly swinging pendulum of self-talk, I actually do get some writing done. When I sink into the abyss and kick myself for not writing more, I have to remember the circumstances (not the excuses) for the temporary lack of regular, high-production that I’m used to. I also have to acknowledge that I really have accomplished more than I give myself credit for. After all, how many novels did you plot last year? In my last two “indolent” writing years, I planned and plotted, start to finish, three — count ‘em, three! — full novels, plus half of a fourth for a developing series, which I also came up with during that time. These are all novels I want to and will write!

A lot goes into the plotting process. I’m not a pantser. I don’t write blindly and hope it all works out. Neither am I an outliner. But I do like to have a roadmap that includes all the main characters and plot points, deep conflicts and character arcs that will make my plots interesting to write and to read. So even though I didn’t rack up the word and page counts, I gave tremendous amount of preparatory thought and analysis — hand-written or typed out in detail – to all of my novels in various stages of progress. The value of having that kind of quality groundwork? Priceless.

Writers write, but they also plan and plot, and there’s a lot to be said for knowing where you’re going and how you’ll get there once you’ve made the decision to take the trip. In my eyes, my as-yet-unwritten novels are solid, ambitious, exciting, and compelling; and they call to me consistently from their quiet holding cells inside my mind. As my life gets more settled, their clamoring for care and feeding only grows louder, and I know that soon enough the crazy distractions of a life overwhelming will be but a memory.

©2008 K. Jayne Cockrill