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As the release of my debut, A Realm of Ash and Shadow, draws near, there are three things I’ve learned over this past year that I’d love to share with other authors at the same stage of this journey as I am.

3 Things I Learned as a Debut Author

Learn to Slow Down

You’re going to be pushed and pulled in many directions. It’s inevitable. But you need to learn how to slow down. You can take time for yourself and recharge in the ways that recharge you best. Sometimes that’s self-care; other times, that’s losing yourself while drafting another book.

For me, it’s Saturdays on the couch with a book or binge-watching a show with my husband. Maybe for you, it’s Tuesday nights on Fortnite, or it’s Thursday mornings at Target.

Whatever it is, slow down and relish in the peace of it.

Embrace Rejection

Often, writers believe that once you sign with an agent or sell your book and you’re finally, FINALLY, being published, the rejections just… end. They don’t. They keep coming, and staying positive can be hard when you’re constantly being told no. Or when you’ve put in so much effort to market your debut, and you don’t make any lists. Or when you host a book event with twenty empty seats.

Or when negative reviews inevitably come in, and it feels like a personal attack.

I remember the first one-star review I ever received on my debut A Realm of Ash and Shadow. My chest felt tight, and my cheeks were hot. It was brutal. But I let it hurt, leaned on my husband and writer friends, and then I… got over it.

Not everyone will love your book, and it’s best to accept that sooner rather than later.

Create A Routine

Amidst all the hecticness of debuting, you will want to create a routine. Currently, I’m fortunate enough to freelance part-time while I focus on my career as an author. But it wasn’t always like this for me. Before I cut back on my client work, I was working full-time, drafting a sequel, and going through the entire pre-publication process for my debut.

It was so incredibly draining that I had to make cuts somewhere.

So, I cut back on my client work and forced myself into a routine that looked like this:

Morning:

Before I even start my working day, I enjoy some me-time! I take a long walk with my dog, brew coffee, and scroll on social media. Then, I dive into client work. I spend about three hours doing as much as I can to get all of my client work finished because I can’t focus on debuting or drafting if I have other deadlines looming over me.

Midday:

I always, always, try to remember to eat lunch. Sometimes I think I’m a workaholic, and I can sustain myself on iced coffee. It’s not good for me. (It’s not good for anyone, really.) Then, after lunch, I start working on all things debut. This looks like answering emails, creating social media graphics, calling indie bookstores to see if they’ll stock my book, etc. I also focus on building my author platform. So much goes into debuting that it’s hard to keep up.

Afternoon:

Once I’ve done everything on my schedule for my debut, it’s time to sprint! I most look forward to this part of my day because I love drafting and working on my craft.

All that to say, not every day goes perfectly. Sometimes there are fires I have to put out for my clients, and it cuts into the time I’ve allotted to draft. Sometimes I end up deviating from my routine altogether. But I always go back to my routine because it allows me to set boundaries and focus on what’s most important during those time frames instead of stressing about everything all the time.

Compartmentalizing is the best!

All this to say… you can and will survive your debut year as an author!

I hope these three things I learned as a debut author are helpful. Do you have any tips for debuting? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment below or come let me know over on Instagram @laraonfire.

Lara Buckheit is the author of A Realm of Ash and Shadow: https://books2read.com/aroaas. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Wilmington University, is a 2021 WriteMentor Mentee, an avid writer (and reader) of spice, and one time she met Taylor Swift's dad. She started writing at a very young age, mostly fanfiction centered around women with swords and men with devilish grins. And she hasn't stopped since. When not writing, Lara can be found drinking tea, hustling for her day job, and reading from her endless TBR pile. Lara currently lives in Charlottesville, VA, with her husband, dog, and thirteen houseplants named after fictional characters.

Writing Routines

 Routine and ritual are a recipe for achieving flow. Flow is that state where time and effort seem to disappear. It's where deep work happens. It isn't proof against struggling. I have a regularly scheduled writing time. 8AM every weekday morning. I show up every weekday morning and open the WIP. 

It isn't a guarantee of success, though. It's down to intention, drive, and determination. That being the case, in no way to I advocate for writing every day. I do advocate for doing what works for you. I am learning that an hour in the morning is not necessarily the best way for me to work. I need much longer stretches of time. Four hours seems to be the sweet spot. I need that much time to get immersed in my stories and characters. It really seems that my continuity sense is dependent on that much time. Because there's a day job now in the mix and the care of aging parents, this means that I have to be a weekend warrior. I use my weekday morning sessions to wrap my head around where the story is going - to make notes about what scenes I want and need so I can jump in on the weekends. 

You'd think that four hours on the weekend would be easy to come by. You'd be wrong. Turns out, my family seems to think my weekends are for chores. ALL THE CHORES. A house full of people and cats needs a ton of maintenance and upkeep. I'm the only person in the family who goes up ladders. Or who handles power tools of any size. 

Most of the time, I get around the demands of family life by getting up at 5AM and working until 9AM. I usually get two hours before anyone else in the house begins stirring. Then it's another two hours of telling people to hush up and hold whatever they want to tell me, ask me, remind me, etc until after 9AM. It's a new routine which means that the boundaries are still being tested. I'm trying really hard to stand firm. Really hard. But like Jeffe, I'm dealing with family drama - same kind she is - an aging parent who's very ill and in the hospital at the moment. We're still finding out whether this will be something the parent in question can survive. So it's possible this weekend the boundaries will crumble under the pressure. 

And you know what? Fine. 

This too shall pass and then I get back up on the horse. I suspect that's the real secret. You're a writer no matter whether you write every day or grab snippets of word count when you can. Life is going to get in the way. Persistence and coming back over and over to the page is what matters. Keep coming back.

Regularity and Writing

 Work Ethic: What Do I Do To Keep Myself Balanced and Writing Regularly?

hahahahaha

I am a hardcore creature of habit. I get instantly pissy if the ritual of my day is disrupted. According to my astrology report, my Ruling House is the 6th House of Routine. Clearly, the Universe supports my dedication to Constancy. SSDD is such a profound part of my life that the rare instances of deviation send my dog into fits of anxiety. I am that committed to regularity.

Possibly to the point of detriment. 

Before this deviates too far into sounding like a fiber supplement commercial, I reluctantly confess the rut of being too regimented is real. Sadly, it shows up as epic Work Avoidance that shatters any hope of hitting milestones on schedule. Ironic, no? A person of routine not being able to stick to a schedule? Thus, it's imperative that I set aside time to be atypical. It's one part refilling the well of creativity and another part reconnecting to relationships that matter. For me, a day here or there isn't sufficient to achieve balance. I have to take a long break. Usually a month, sometimes two, of stepping fully away from writing. 

Yes, I schedule my breaks in big chunks because when I am playing in the creative morass, it is for months at a time. Thus, balance for me, cannot be achieved in hours or days. After all, I am a very delicate flower...

...full of fiber. 

ehem

😇 

Utilizing Fashion in your Writing Routine

We’re talking about writer fashion this week and what you do or don’t wear to write. This picture is my take on how my friends and family imagine I write vs what it looks like when I really write. And yes, I’m wearing a dress in both pictures, but my reality is not fancy ball gowns.

Writing from home, or working from home, doesn't have to mean sweat pants and t-shirts. It's okay to want to look nice, as @bymorganwright posted about her experience facing the stereotype of being brainy and looking nice. 

I’m a dress kind of girl. I’ve long been the most comfortable in them, dressing them up or down. Maybe it started when I was young and my sister and I would practically play dress up daily and trounce around the farm in long floral prints. It definitely cemented when I moved into management and no longer had to wear scrubs. And at this point wearing dresses has become my signature look, so I see no need to change it. 

Which brings me to the real point I want to make with writer fashion which is how to dress when working from home. 

Once I quit the day job for my health and moved into a writing routine I quickly found out that I needed to get dressed for the day…which for me was putting on an actual dress. The choice of clothing isn’t the important part, it’s the act of getting out of pajamas in order to mentally and physically prepare myself for the day. 

Then the lock down happened and my husband found himself working from home and discovered the same thing. He couldn’t bring himself to get much work done if he didn’t get out of comfy clothes. It’s absolutely a mental thing! 

If you’re struggling to get writing done or settle into a routine it might help to give your brain a signal. It could be getting dressed for the day, or maybe it’s getting a nice cuppa and sitting in a certain chair. Whatever you choose to define the beginning of  writing mode, use it and don’t let yourself get distracted. Meaning—don’t get sucked into organizing your closet or start surfing the socials once you sit in your writing chair. 

Utilize your routine and don’t let non-writers get to you with their comments about bonbons or how it must be nice to be on vacation every day. Writing is hard. It’s harder than managing a clinic because it’s more than business, it’s your heart and soul going into those words. 

For those struggling to get the words down because something’s blocking you or those feeling guilty for taking time out of the day to write—keep your chin up and don’t give up. Writing isn’t always glamorous, but it sure can be fun. 

When you’re working from home/writing do you have a routine to get you into the right frame of mind?

A schedule for writing?

Sunrise in Custer St Park

photo courtesy of @wyomingflygirl

Way back before I was a starry-eyed writer I thought…well, I thought writing a book was impossible, but I also thought that authors wrote and wrote until the book was done. Oh, what sweet innocence. 

Once I decided to attempt the impossible and write a novel I quickly found out that the book didn’t just pour out in one long chunk. There was a ton of research needed and an even more exorbitant amount of staring off into space required. But the best piece of advice I garnered was Jeffe’s advice to track your writing time. 

And so….spreadsheets! 

If you’re a new writer, or you have writing-time flexibility but struggle to get words down when you do sit down, I suggest trying out the Jeffe-writing-spreadsheet-method. When I did my first writing-time tracking I was still working full time and alone time with my computer was sporadic, which actually came in handy because I was able to compare all times of the day and night. 

My results: 

Creative brain power peaks between 7-11 AM. 

Editing capabilities are sustainable throughout the afternoon.

Writing after 5 PM…forget about it.  

Who out there is struggling to finish that book while holding down the 9-5? The problem with knowing that I was a morning writer was that I still had the day job M-F. To those authors working full time, I salute you and will send you all the good vibes! It’s hard, but it’s not impossible. Keep going and when you do have opportunities to shut yourself away during your peak writing-times, do it and don’t think twice! There’ll be guilt about taking the time and you’ll miss out on events and family/friends, but it’s part of the sacrifice to the end goal. 

Fast-forward a few years and now I’m blessed to have a spouse that can support our family while I’m a stay-at-home author. He’s incredible and the only reason I’m able to write during my peak hours. And it’s made a huge difference in my daily word counts and consistencies, which veers into writing routine territory. For those who have a flexible writing-schedule, once you know when your brain works best then you can move towards a writing routine. And that, that’s a whole other writing post.