Good morning from a snowy Virginia! It is unusual for us to have snow in December, and it was welcome indeed. This weekend's snow officially is one of my favorite snowstorms ever. For starters, the temperature was just hovering at 32 degrees, and there was very little wind. This made it about as warm of a snowstorm as you can get. Secondly, the half foot of snow was quite wet, making for fantastic snowmen, igloos and snowball fights. This lured the children outdoors where they stayed for hours, having a blast in the fresh air. They slept very well both Friday and Saturday nights. From a convenience point of view, starting on a Friday and expected to be fully melted by Monday morning, there were no scrambles for emergency child care or attempting to work from home through the general chaos of a snow day. Lastly - nobody had to shovel a single scoop of snow. It all melted pretty quickly on the sidewalks, driveways, and roads. I'm not sure I can think of a better snow storm!
As I look through my office windows at the lovely landscape, I am happy to be sitting again in front of my manuscript. I took two months off, while I shared the first draft with half a dozen volunteer readers, and forced myself to step away from the keyboard. I did not want to change the manuscript before getting initial feedback, because the copy my generous readers were reacting to would be totally out of date. I did not want to do this - I was determined to publish by January first - but a few wonderful things happened.
I had very unrealistic expectations, and my volunteer readers took a little longer than I hoped to get back to me with feedback. This had an unexpected benefit of giving me time to percolate on the framework that I felt was missing. In other words, it forced thinking time, in lieu of writing time.
During this waiting time, I sat in on a keynote speech at a digital summit at work. The presenter spoke about design, coding, and digital product management, which theoretically has nothing to do with writing this book. HOWEVER ... in the process of listening, the spark came to me of what was missing. BOOM - Game on again!
All of the advice I have read from authors who came before me laugh at fast track deadlines and plowing forward without taking a break. Upon completion of draft one, every single author counsels, "Stick it on a shelf for a few months and go do something different!" For this achievement-oriented personality, it struck me as unnecessary. I did not like this advice and had not intended to take it. My readers forced me to do otherwise. THANK YOU!!!!
The creative process requires creating the opportunity to iterate and to allow new ideas to percolate though. Adam Grant, author of Originals and Give and Take explores this in this short TED talk from 2016. He highlights how some of the most original people are procrastinators, not to the bitter end where no time remains for execution, but rather at an intermediate level of procrastination allowing for thinking time. I did not intend to build this time into my self-driven schedule, but its presence gave me exactly what I needed.
So I am back to the keyboard this month, restructuring my stories into an easier-to-digest framework. More to come soon - I hope you love it!
If you're enjoying this same snowstorm as I am, stay warm! I hope you too avoided the snow shovel.
Stephanie Brooke Lennon is the author of Family Bank Blueprint, GoldQuest, and What Would Water Do? Simple Strategies for Navigating Life's Obstacles. Her titles are available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com. Follow Stephanie Brooke on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and at ​BrookeLennon.com.