But Wait. Maybe You Should?

When to do all those things I said you don't have to do

Hi Friends,

We had a fun talk on Tuesday about all the things you do not HAVE to do as a writer. I am VERY MUCH FOR giving you permission to not do things that won’t or don’t help you be the kind of writer you want to be. There is no one way to be a writer, and if there were, then everyone would know how to do it and I wouldn’t be writing you this newsletter. So I’m going to be an absolute jerk today and tell you when you might want to do all the things you don’t HAVE to do. The root of this has not changed—you don’t HAVE to—but using your newfound self-awareness, you might find one or two of these things may work for you.

• Make a mood board for your book

  If you’re visually driven—do this! It doesn’t have to be fancy, or on Pinterest (remember that?). It can be physical images pasted in a notebook or pictures copied into a Google doc for your eyes only. In my last novel, I pictured Gina Davis when I thought of my main character and it would have been useful to put her picture in a doc and look at it when I was writing in her voice. I managed without it, but I can see how it would have helped. If you think this will help you, try it!

• Make a playlist for your book