I Use This Simple Writing Trick to Keep Momentum Going

Where Fleur rolls a boulder up a mountain, one word at a time.

Mother Nature seemed to have listened to me, because this past week wasn’t as hot, and there was even a crispness to the mornings. This also meant it was time for me to DIY a little, as there was no excuse now. I’m scraping the paint off the brick chimney outside. It’s very tedious…

But it gave me time to think. Don’t worry, I won’t wax poetic about how DIY is a lot like writing (I’ll save that for another time). Instead, I was thinking about how writing every day is working so well for me, and what tricks help me keep that momentum going. Because writing a book is a lot like rolling a giant boulder up a mountain: the key is not to stop.

The best trick in my writer toolbox is using placeholders.

You writerly friends probably know what I’m talking about, but I’ll explain how these work anyway.

This morning, I was writing a scene in my middle-grade work-in-progress. It’s a rough draft, so I’m simply trying to get the bones written. I’m in a scene where I have two antagonists show up, but I’m blanking on what color their hair is. Now, I can stop writing at this point and go through my notes. But that would stop the momentum. Worse still, I’d break my focus and concentration. It takes forever to get this back and sometimes, I lose it for the day. I’ve learned this the hard way…

So instead, I use a placeholder in all-caps, LIKE THIS. In the case of my scene with the hair color, would put in INSERT HAIR COLOR. By putting it in all-caps, it’s easy for me to spot these editorial notes when I go over my pages, so I can simply look it up. Likewise, I use all-caps for things I need to research, spots that I think could use a good metaphor, or places where I think I need to expand or add a new scene. I even put random thoughts or questions in all-caps.

Using these placeholders is especially helpful if you are easily derailed by cool research (*raised hand*). I just put in a note and revisit it for the next draft.

My current manuscript is full of placeholders. They make sure I keep pushing that boulder up the mountain.

How is your writing going?

What I’m Writing This Week

I’m almost done with the first skeleton draft of this middle-grade mystery, clocking in at 20k words right now. It has more placeholders than I’ve ever used, and that’s okay. I hope to finish draft one this coming week…

Meanwhile, I also wrote a good chunk of a short story that’s due August 1^st; I hope to finish that this week as well.

I totally dropped the ball on my non-fiction project and must remedy that… I’ll be busy this week!

Where I’m Going

I’ll be going up the ladder, to scrape that paint off the chimney. It’s a job… I also have a few temporary houseguests, a litter of three tiny 2-week-old kittens without a mama. I’m bottle feeding, which is a whole new experience.

Your Weekly Floof

Floof was playing supermodel this week. Doesn’t she look marvelous?