Over a year ago, I made a most foolish agreement. For our wedding, my partner suggested we write our own vows.
I put it off for the longest time. As a writer, someone who swears by the art of words, the entire situation suddenly felt very precarious. It became a moment of reckoning for me. Could I actually write a set of vows? Could I make them good enough? How could I possibly capture everything there was to say about our relationship in a few pithy paragraphs?
Putting it off -- procrastination -- became the way I dealt with those doubts. And for a while, it worked to stave off the feelings of fear and inadequacy. In fact, it worked right up until two weeks before the wedding.
With the days counting down and our flights to Malta and our honeymoon booked and both me and my partner down with flu, I finally realized something: it was time to commit. Not just to my partner, who means everything to me, and not just to our life together. It was time to commit to the wedding itself, to the performance of it all. Putting it off any longer wasn't going to make it easier. There would be no day when it all just suddenly clicked.
It was up to me to put those words down, and to try to get them right.
So I sat down and gave myself a day to write. In that moment, I committed to more than just the idea of writing my own vows. I committed to the process of it. And within an hour, I had my first draft down: two and a half minutes of speaking time filled with way too many feels.
For those of you struggling to finish your short stories, or anyone who's started a novel and gotten distracted or discouraged half way through, for anyone who's hesitated to even put the first chapter down, because how could you possibly know if you'll ever have the time to finish it -- this is my challenge to you this month:
Make the commitment. With yourself -- and with someone else as well, if that helps spur some accountability. But commit to more than just the idea of writing. Commit to the process of it. Set aside an hour or even just half an hour, even just fifteen minutes every day -- or block off a couple hours on whichever day you have off -- and commit to sitting down with your creativity. Commit to putting words down on the page -- one after the other after the other. Commit to finishing that story. Commit to adding words to that novel. Sure, it's scary. And sure, sometimes it makes you feel like an imposter.
But in the end, the only way to prove those feelings wrong is to do the work. Because it's amazing how much things change when you commit to the process and actually finish your shit.
Monthly Writing Exercise
This is one that I came up when I was struggling to figure out the particular strengths and weaknesses of the characters in one of my novels. If you're wrestling with a character's voice, or think their personality isn't shining through on the page, try answering these questions from their perspective:
Vices
Question 1: What do you think is your greatest vice?
Question 2: How do you feel about this vice? What do you think about it in relation to yourself? Others?
Question 3: What would other people say is your greatest vice?
Question 4: Why do you think they say that? What do you think about their opinion?
Virtues
Question 5: What do you think is your greatest virtue?
Question 6: How do you feel about this virtue? What do you think about it in relation to yourself? Others?
Question 7: What would other people say is your greatest virtue?
Question 8: Why do you think they say that? What do you think about their opinion?
For more writing exercises, make sure to follow my editor account on instagram, or subscribe to this substack!
Some Opportunities for Writers:
WriteMentor Novel in Development award is open until 14th May for Children’s books and YA, with valuable feedback available on your opening and synopsis!
Closing at the end of April (26th) the Harper-Wood Travel Award enables an emerging writer to take research-related travel outside of the UK in order to complete a creative work.
The Bridport Prizes are open until the end of May.
What I've been Reading & Streaming
With our move to Barcelona as well as our wedding planning in full swing, the media consumption has been at an all time low since the beginning of the year, but here's some of the stuff I've been enjoying this quarter:
Books: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim - Richly detailed YA fairytale retelling | Small Angels by Lauren Owen - A deliciously gothic paranormal mystery | We Are All Constellations by Amy Beashel - A touching YA meditation on grief and lingering wounds | The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen - Fun and action-packed romantasy tropes | The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas - Queer fantasy YA at its finest.
Music: Quetzal - Anti-colonialist chicana beats | The Decemberists - Delightfully quirky concept albums and catchy singles | Woodkid - Powerful atmospheric sounds with wide-ranging influences
My Quarterly Writing Wrap Up
Currently Submitting: “All the Pretty Little Lies” (short memoir) | “We Are Made to Bloom” (fantasy short story) - ACCEPTED by Uncharted Mag! Look out for it come August!
Currently Writing: A Lullaby of Stolen Stars (YA fantasy novel)
Blog Posts, in case you missed them: Facing 2023 | How to Set Achievable Writing Goals