Writing

Writing Mojo: Tips for Getting Off Hiatus

I don’t know about you, but my writing mojo has been on hiatus for the past few years. I want to be writing and coming up with creative idea after idea, but I haven’t had the focus and motivation to make it happen as much as I’d like. I’ve been hearing similar things from writers I know.

What’s the issue? I think collectively there’s just been too much to worry about. On top of typical life issues, the pandemic has consumed our thoughts, added additional stress to the logistics of our lives, and resulted in social separation that’s left people with a dwindling well of inspiration. But things are changing, life is changing, and writing mojo doesn’t just disappear . . . it hangs on, waiting to return.

Many of us have been doing what we can the past few years to keep that spark going—Zoom writer’s groups and other virtual meetings. And now we can do more and more out in the world. So, what has been working for writers? Here are some tips from myself and a few MUF bloggers on filling up your creative well and getting back to your writing self again.

Tip #1. Get out there, get physical, get lost.

Writers spend too much time in their heads. And if worry is filling it, there’s not much room for much else. One way to make some space for inspiration is to get out of your head and into nature. Walking has always been healing  and inspiring to me. I like to get lost for a while, occupy my mind on the route ahead, and focus on my surroundings. I notice life a little better and my head clears so that it can wander. Trying another kind of art helps too, one that is more physical than writing. I’ve been trying some macrame lately and getting out into the garden. It opens up the writing part of my mind. When it can wander, new writing ideas have space to wiggle in.

Tip #2. Connect with community again.

If you’ve been avoiding book and writing events for a while, like many of us have, start venturing out again. Being with others in the writing community is such an inspiration. Volunteering to help with book-related events can help spark that excitement us writers have about what it is we love. There are likely many outdoor events in your community now that the weather is nicer. See what you feel good about attending and then start connecting again. Or start a book-related event yourself—maybe a free children’s book table at your local farmer’s market. Talk with people about children’s books. See how books affect their lives.

Tip #3. Follow a writer’s program on your own or with a group of writers.

A friend of mine mentioned The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron the other day. If you haven’t heard of it, it contains exercises, activities, and prompts to cultivate your creativity. Having a structured method to explore creativity may be the right way for you to get back on track with writing.


MUF blogger Dorian Cirrone
also had some thoughts on what’s been keeping her writing mojo alive:

Two things have kept me writing during the pandemic. The first has been reading. During these past couple of years, I’ve become a voracious reader of suspense fiction in order to escape reality. And with each book I’ve read, I’ve gotten ideas on how to enhance my own writing, which is always exciting to me.

The other thing that has kept me going is watching webinars on writing. I’m amazed at how many fantastic free or low-cost webinars and videos are available to writers. I know a lot of people have webinar fatigue, but I’ve found many that have been inspiring. Here are a few sites to explore:

 

MUF blogger Heather Murphy Capps offered these thoughts on what motivates and inspires her:

It’s been such an up and down time for writing during this upside down time in our lives … and I have loved reading about other ways of filling the creative well. Here’s what usually gets me excited to write or try out new ideas:

  1. Read the newspaper! I know—that seems counterproductive given the dumpster fire of a world we’re living in. But I want to remind everyone that there’s more to the paper besides the front page. Scientists are discovering black holes, advice columnists are still advising people on how to deal with families and friends, sports teams are still doing amazing things—especially local small teams and high school sports.
  2. Listen to the radio! Listen to MOTH radio and StoryCorps on Fridays on NPR. If you’re like me, you will inevitably cry (!!) but you will also be rejuvenated listening to stories of real people and they often spark ideas about what your fictional people might do or want or think.
  3. Watch bad television! I love watching television, I’ll admit it. And one of the benefits from television is it allows me to turn off my analytical brain and just feel or react … which often spurs ideas. I am not often a person who does subtitles or artsy television— I like it, but I find that serialized drama is a great way to just relax my brain. And then the ideas come, which is a beautiful thing.
  4. Finally, and I know people say this all the time, but I do definitely think that getting into quiet and nature is a foolproof way to spur creativity again. Being quiet and observing beauty and not being required to interact with the world ALWAYS helps free up my brain.

 

Hope these ideas help get you off your writing hiatus. It’s still a work in progress for me, but I’m trying. What’s worked for you? Please share some of your tips in the comments below!

World Building with Bestselling #Kidlit Author Lisa McMann

Author Lisa McMann stopped by The Mixed-Up Files Of Middle Grade Authors to talk about hew new middle-grade fantasy, THE FORGOTTEN FIVE: MAP OF FLAMES; world building; and what goes in to writing a series. Here, she shares her process on beginning a new series and what to do about readers who don’t start from the beginning. 

Mixed-Up Files: Tell us about your new book.

The Forgotten Five: Map of Flames by Lisa McMann

Lisa McMann: THE FORGOTTEN FIVE: MAP OF FLAMES is the first book in a middle grade fantasy series. It’s about five supernatural kids, raised in isolation, who enter a hostile-to-supers civilization for the first time to search for their missing criminal parents…and the stash they left behind.

MUF: Let’s talk about world building. How does the shape of a series come about? Do you come up with a single story first, or a world you want to flesh out?

LM: I usually come up with the immediate setting first—where are we when the story begins? In MAP OF FLAMES, it’s a criminals’ hideout on a beach with no electricity, no technology, just a handful of cabins in a lush setting that’s isolated from the modern world. Next I came up with the destination—where are these kids going and what does that look like. I wanted a big contrast between the two things here, so I went with a NYC or Chicago-type of city. When I imagined how the kids would get from one place to the other, the map of southern Europe factored in—I pictured the hideout at the boot heel of Italy, and the big city of Estero at the bottom of Spain (though I brought them closer together so it wouldn’t take so long to get there). So that map was in my head, as well as the contrasting locations. In one of my other series, THE UNWANTEDS, the hidden magical world of Artimé is designed to look like a place where my mother grew up, along the shore of Lake Michigan. I took that real life location and added magic to it.

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMannFor me the shape of the series comes from two things: developing flawed characters and their relationships, and introducing a plot in which the antagonists push the protagonists too far, forcing these main characters to take action. Both things drive the series, with all kinds of setbacks as the heroes attempt to overcome evil and build strengthening relationships at the same time. The bigger the world and its problems, and the more troubled the characters and their need to fix themselves, the longer the series can run.

MUF: What are the biggest challenges in writing a series, and how does that compare when you write a stand-alone novel?

LM: Now you’ve got me looking back at my career and realizing I’ve only ever written three stand-alones out of 28 books. So maybe my biggest challenge is being able to write a book and actually tie up all the loose ends!

With a series, you are writing a story arc within each individual book, but also a story arc for the whole series. That can be tricky to get the hang of—parts of the plot need to resolve while other parts need to become more conflicted. It’s definitely something that my editors have helped me see and understand in past series’. It really takes a conscious effort to recognize the two different arcs.

Author Lisa McMann

Lisa McMann, author. Photo by Ryan Nicholson

MUF: Do you expect that readers will always read in order, or do you find that many people jump in in the middle of a series? If that’s the case, how do you provide back story for new readers without turning off anyone who’s started with book #1?

LM: I absolute wish I could force everyone to read the books in order—I’m a bit controlling this way, haha. But I know this doesn’t always happen. In the early pages of every sequel, I try to weave in key elements of things that happened in the past, kind of the same way TV shows give you the recap of important scenes from the previous episodes. I don’t want this to ever feel heavy-handed or annoying for those faithful readers who read the books in order, though. So it’s a delicate balance to inform or remind but not overdo.

MUF: How much collaboration is involved with your editor on a book series?

LM: I think this depends more on the editor than the writer. Some editors want an outline ahead of time that they can contribute to or approve of. Others are fine with letting an author do their thing and being surprised with the way a book turns out. Both ways work. I prefer not having to write an outline, because I feel like doing that takes something away from the creative process of writing the story—it feels limiting. But if that’s what the editor needs, I’m happy to provide it.

MUF: How do you keep track of your characters and their environment so you don’t forget details?

LM: I keep it all in my head. I might jot down a few notes on my phone app—notes about a key sentence that will carry through to the next book. But it’s also not too difficult to search for the information I need in previous books if I can’t remember something. I know many writers keep copious notes and use other means to track everything—they are likely cringing right now. I just work a different way. I can see a picture of things in my mind. I think my book details take up most of the space in my brain because I can’t remember what I had for breakfast.

MUF: If you would like to share any recent/new-ish middle grade books you’ve enjoyed, we’d love to hear your recommendations! 

All Thirteen

LM: I love Kelly Yang’s Front Desk Books. And Christina Soontornvat’s non-fiction All Thirteen. On my nightstand I have A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow and The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix—excited to dive in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find Lisa at @lisa_mcmann on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram and /McMannFan on Facebook

An Interview with Historical Fiction Author Michelle Jabès Corpora about her latest, The Dust Bowl

Today, on the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors we welcome Michelle Jabès Corpora, who is a writer, editor, community organizer and martial artist. In addition to working in the publishing industry for fifteen years as an editor, she has ghostwritten five novels in a long-running middle grade mystery series. She is the author of The Dust Bowl (Penguin Workshop) and The Fog of War: Martha Gellhorn at the D-Day Landings(Pushkin Press).

Congratulations on publishing two middle grade novels in one year. Today, we’re going to discuss The Dust Bowl, which is the inaugural book in the middle grade series, American Horse Tales. Congratulations to you Michelle!

I’m so excited to talk with you about your love of writing historical fiction for middle grade readers. I love that you’ve been able to jump from the editing side to the authoring side.

You have so many visceral details about what it was like to live in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. In fact, the dust and the setting become like a character in the book. Can you talk a little bit about your research process?

I love that you said that the setting became “like a character in the book” – that perfectly describes how I felt about it too! Some might see the research process as the “boring part” of the writing process, but it’s actually what made me fall in love with historical fiction. Not only is it fun to do, but it really enriched me as a person in a way that stayed with me long after I finished writing the book. In preparation for Dust Bowl, I watched Ken Burns’ documentary about the event itself, as well as his (14 hour?) documentary about the Roosevelts, which really helped set the stage for the eras that led to and followed the Dust Bowl. Watching the footage of the dust storms, listening to interviews with people who lived through it, and learning about the historical context about the time really helped not only create the setting, but also the plot itself and what my characters would have been going through. I also read The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, which was essential in writing Ginny’s voice in the dialect of the time. I collected digital photographs from the era, and did exhaustive internet research as well, to make sure I had every detail right—from the kind of food Ginny would have eaten, down to the type of radio they’d have in their farmhouse. To me, it was essential to have the setting come alive, so that young readers would really get a visceral understanding of what it is was to live through this remarkable time in our history.

Your main character Ginny loves her horse Thimble and would do anything to keep Pa from selling him. I could really feel Ginny’s affection for her horse. What is your relationship to horses and how did you go about creating Thimble as a character?

As a child, I wasn’t really a “horse girl” myself, but I was definitely a huge animal lover. I volunteered at a wildlife rescue during college, and my first job out of college was as a veterinary technician. My goal with Thimble was to make him a character in a realistic—non magical—way. I wanted to try and recreate the relationship we have with our animal companions, where we talk to them, see their reactions and their expressions, and imagine what they might be saying to us if they could talk. To me, Thimble was kind of like an extension of Ginny’s personality, a bit like her subconscious mind. When she was excited about adventure, she imagined his own excitement to join her on that adventure. But when she tried to push away the doubts about what she was doing, she imagined that Thimble, her partner and protector, seemed to confirm those doubts with his worried glances. I think there’s a reason that people seem to “look like their pets” – when we become close to an animal, we create an emotional bond with them unlike any other. I did my best to recreate that bond between Ginny and Thimble.

Ginny is a bit of a trickster in some respects and very determined. Was she hard to write? How much were you like Ginny as a child?

Ginny was fun to write—and definitely not like me! I was a shy, very rule-abiding kid. But I had daring friends who helped pull me out of my shell, so maybe my friends helped to inform Ginny’s character. I think what really helped solidify the character in my mind was the essential struggle between Ginny and Pa. Both father and daughter were willing to do anything to protect the things that defined their family—but they disagreed on the right way to go about doing that. I envisioned Ginny and Pa as reflections of the same character, who ultimately find a way to see that they’re both right, and that they’re both wrong. I think it’s a situation that many of us as children and as parents have experienced with our loved ones, which is why the story felt so meaningful to me. I love Ginny for her courage, for her wit, and for her ability to change her mind, or admit fault. In some ways, that’s the biggest test of courage a person can face.

I enjoyed Silvio as a character. He’s another very determined character. What do you like best about him?

I loved Silvio’s easygoing manner, his humor, and his charm. Silvio was the light in a fairly dark story, and I appreciate him for that. Even though he had experienced terrible personal tragedy, Silvio kept his eyes on the horizon, dreaming about his future, and throwing himself into the unknown in order to take care of his family. I love his breezy heroism. I felt like Silvio is the kind of friend everyone wants—someone who will make you a sandwich on a bad day and make you laugh, but who also isn’t afraid to stand up and tell you when you’re being ridiculous!

Before you became an author, you had extensive experience as an editor (Greenwillow, Working Partners, a major book packager). How did being on the other side of the fence inform your work as a writer? What did you learn that you were able to carry into your work?

There is absolutely no way I would be the writer I am today without my years as an editor. Being an editor taught me to be ruthless, not romantic, with words, and never to let myself get too emotionally involved in my own skills. My career taught me that writing is something I do, not something I am, and that distinction removed a lot of the insecurities I suffered from in my early years. I learned never to wait for “the muse” to strike, because although there will be moments of inspiration and epiphanies and all those lovely things, at the end of the day writing is work. No matter what, you must sit down and do it. It doesn’t matter if it is the best thing ever written, it doesn’t matter if reading it will change someone’s life. Because surely, those things will never be true if you never write at all! What I have found is that by treating my work in this way, it frees my mind of personal judgment and allows me to just let it flow. Early in my career, writing a single page felt like pulling teeth. I agonized over every word! Now, I can write ten pages in an afternoon, no problem. I completely attribute this to the experiences of my career, which not only taught me the essential structure and form of story, but also forced me to write regularly.

How did you discover that writing historical fiction was your jam? Was it a major aha moment?

Honestly, I feel like almost everything is my jam! Back in high school, a teacher once said to me that I was a “Jack of all Trades,” because there were so many things I loved to do. I really think I’ve continued that throughout my life and my fiction. I even have a chameleon on my website as my personal mascot! I started my writing career with mysteries, then wrote historical, and now I’m starting to work on two horror novels. I think the a-ha! moment came during the writing of Dust Bowl and Fog of War, when I sat back and realized I didn’t need to label myself as this kind of writer or that kind. I write fiction for young people, and I write all kinds. I just love stories, and I love trying new things. Making that personal discovery and embracing that truth really expanded my vision for my career as an author.

Why do you write middle grade fiction?

The ages of 7-12 are a magical time in life. It’s this moment in our childhood where we become fully realized human beings, where we begin to find ourselves and to develop beliefs about life and our moral code. Because of that, writing for this age group is a huge and important responsibility that I take very seriously. When I write a story for middle grade readers, I ask myself what this story is teaching them about being human. My greatest book memories are of authors whose novels I read when I was a middle grade reader myself: Madeline L’Engle, Susan Cooper, James Howe, Louis Sachar, John Bellairs. If a book I wrote had that kind of impact on even one child, I think that would be a job well done.

Anything else you’d like us to know about the Dust Bowl as well as the American Horse Tales series?

I just finished my first school visit with Dust Bowl, and I was amazed at how interested the kids were in history. Right now, as all of us go through such a difficult time in our own history, I think it’s more important than ever to encourage kids to learn about the past, and to teach them in ways that really touch them and demonstrate commonalities between their lives and their ancestors’.

I encourage everyone to check out the other books in the series, which are all written by amazing writers. Horse lovers everywhere will love them! Thanks so much for the opportunity to chat on the blog!

Thanks so much for joining us here at the Mixed-Up Files!

Hillary Homzie is the author of the Ellie May chapter book series (Charlesbridge, 2018), Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2018), Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2017), Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009) as well as the Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster Aladdin 2002) chapter book series. She’s also a contributor to the Kate the Chemist middle grade series (Philomel Books/Penguin Random House). And her nonfiction picture book, If You Were a Princess: True Stories of Brave Leaders From Around the World is a look at historical and current princesses from many diverse lands who have made their mark (Simon & Schuster, August 2022). During the year, Hillary teaches at Sonoma State University. In the summer, she teaches in the graduate program in children’s literature, writing and illustration at Hollins University. She also is an instructor for the Children’s Book Academy.

She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page as well as on Twitter.