When It's (Really) Cold Outside

Tips for overcoming the dark days of winter and staying motivated to write.

If you’re anywhere in the U.S. (and Canada?) right now, you’re bracing for a storm—either a wet or a cold one. Here in Colorado, it’s super frosty, the kind of cold I still remember from living in North Dakota.

Now, I’m kind of a fair-weather girl. I like for it to be 70 degrees with a slight breeze and a little sun. Basically, I like California weather.

Alas, I’m bundled in my oversized sweatshirt dress, Floof puffed up on my lap, trying to get some writing done. It’s cold. And it’s boring. What no one tells you when they’ve written a book is that it’s cobbled together with boring winter days, hours and hours of nose to the grindstone, when no one checks to see if you wrote anything. It’s just you, keeping tally. And it can be hard to stay motivated.

This is what I wear. Highly recommend it, just don’t leave the house or you might be mistaken for a runaway monk…

So what helps? Here’s what I look at when I need motivation:

1. Good news. Okay, so maybe you haven’t had a lot of that. But it’s likely that someone, at some point said something nice about your writing. Hang it above your desk. I hang kid fanmail where I can see it, every day. It’s fun and colorful, plus it reminds me who I’m working for.

1. Look at your inspiration basket. Back in 2023, I shared how I create a box (or basket) for each book. When I’m uninspired, I go back to the project’s inspiration.

2. Remember how good it feels to have written. I cannot remember who said this, but an author once famously stated that they didn’t like to write, but they liked having written. This is totally true. Writing is hard—it’s like a hard workout for your brain. So when I just don’t feel like working out my brain, I remember that great feeling of accomplishment.

I’m also lucky enough to have actual books published, so looking at those helps with motivation too. Virtual author visits also help; seeing the kids’ faces

How It’s Going

I wrote a little over 3K words this week, so I’m on track. Cold boring weather is good for writing. I also wrote about 1K words on the new non-fiction writing/craft project I hope to publish later this year, on plotting. A good week overall.

Three Interesting Things

1. The Middle-Grade Writers Group has a (free) online event tomorrow: Publishing Industry in 2024 and Beyond with editor Andrew Karre. This should be a good one.

2. Harold Underdown (of the Purple Crayon, a children’s book publishing expert) is hosting a Highlights webinar on Submission Strategies next week - find out more here. Not free but a pretty good deal. I contributed some submission strategies that worked for me to aid Harold. This is another good one…

3. Debbie Ohi is a creator I’ve followed for years. She’s incredibly inspiring and shares her knowledge of the craft of writing and illustrating generously—including this recent post of advice from Kidlit creators. In case you needed it this January.

Your Weekly Floof

This is my desk, with Floof sitting there passing judgement. Sometimes I think it’s a miracle I write anything at all…

Stay warm, people.