What’s the secret to writing book after book?

Some days, writing a comprehensive thought can be challenging, let alone a scene or a chapter. Especially on the days when just getting out of bed is a struggle. When I hit the proverbial wall, when my creative well runs dry, I find it hard to function, even with the little things.

That seems to be the pattern for me after every book I write. I put so much effort into the writing, the editing, then the marketing that, by the time the book is out in the world for a couple of weeks, I’m depleted. Usually after a week or so, I can re-engage with the world, fresh with ideas and intentions.

After writing four books in four years, finding the energy to continue writing the next book has not come as easily.

It’s not surprising given the last few years. It’s been a rather intense time. We’ve dealt with issues like emergency spine surgery, my husband’s cancer, moving our daughter interstate, buying and renovating a house… all things have taken up a lot of time and energy.

But after I published the last book, and the publicity tour was over, I shut my computer down, turned my iPad off, put the phone down and took a technology break. It wasn’t until then that I realised I hadn’t done that in a few years. In fact, I had taken no holidays since … well, I’m still struggling to remember when the last time was. I’m not talking about a few days here and there, but an actual vacation. The type of vacation where you do something completely different from working. (Which is funny because while I’m still on vacation, I am writing this blog post.)

As I pull myself out of the mind-numbing fog, my brain is reengaging with the world. It’s slow this time.

I am almost fighting it. But for the first time in a long time, the characters in my next book are chatting in my head. They want to tell their stories. But I am not ready. Just as I thought “maybe next week”, I had another mental health setback this week.

A friend of mine passed away this week. She’s someone I haven’t known for long. Two years. It’s someone I would consider as a “Golden Girl”. But news that she had cancer, and subsequently not long to live, hit me hard. (As I know it did her!) She learned the news two months ago. I heard about it a few days after I got back from my book tour. It’s affected me more than I thought it would.

How could it not? She inspired me. She brought joy into any room she was in. She would often pull me aside and hand me newspaper articles she that I thought I’d like, usually about the Camino or writing. Or she’d tell me about a book she’d read that she thought I’d enjoy. One day, after I told her I was struggling to get the latest book out in the world, she offered encouraging words. A quote she found quite inspiring:

If it is to be, it is up to me.

But the one thing that hits hard now was what she said to me, the last time I saw her. She looked at the scar on my neck from my emergency surgery, pointed to it and said: “Seeing that scar of yours reminds me how precious life is.”

Oof.

I often get inspired by quotes.

It’s cheesy, I know. But some quotes are like a kick in the bum. Especially when I’m having a one-woman pity party or feeling uninspired.

Many moons ago, a good friend gave me a bracelet, with the inscription:

She Believed She Could … so She Did.

It was something I needed to hear. I was struggling then too, trying to work out what my future path looked like. I was living in Sydney with my husband and daughter. We were at the point of deciding what was next,once our daughter left for university the following year. I had drafted my first novel, BENEATH THE SURFACE, but it was a train wreck at that stage, much like I felt my life was. My husband and I talked about travelling full time but were undecided about how we would do that. The cost involved caused hesitation with everything I suggested. I felt frustrated by the constant indecision and was just ready to go. That’s where the bracelet comes in.

She believed she could, so she did. That bracelet inspired me to figure out a way to make it happen. I had been dreaming of travelling full time for a very long time, so I was determined to make it happen. And I did. It just didn’t work out as we initially intended.

After a year of travelling throughout Australia, my husband hesitated to travel overseas. So, I went without him. I needed space and I couldn’t see any way around it. So, we separated. It was an extremely hard to do. My husband is my person and, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. But I needed something different, and I couldn’t see what that was with him (at the time). As frightening as it was, I thought back on the quote: She believed she could, so she did.

So, off I went. On my own. I road-tripping through New Zealand, then the U.S. I applied to house sits on my own. I walked the Camino de Santiago on my own. When I realised I wanted to be with my husband, I returned home a year later with new boundaries and new ideas of how we could manage our life, and that began our next chapter.

That quote, she believed she could, so she did, has gotten me through a lot.

I talk about how it’s my mantra now. My daughter even has a tattoo of that quote on her arm – in my handwriting. I thought it was a little extreme when she told me she wanted to do that, but when I thought about it, it’s fitting. I just hope it is something that will inspire her through life, too.

That mantra got me to finally get out of my head and start writing the book I’d always wanted to write.

And now, it’s time to think ahead. Because my friend was right: If it is to be, it is up to me.

I just need to believe that I can again. And I know I can. It’s finding the energy to do so. I know I have another book (or ten) to write, and characters are already buzzing. But I am also learning what the boundaries are for myself. Balance. Time. Focusing on my needs before others.

“Grab the oxygen mask for yourself first”, my husband reminds me. I also have my friend’s words in my ear. Life is precious, she said. Indeed, it is.

So, what’s the secret to writing book after book?

Taking time for yourself. Realising you need to step away, step back into life, and allow the creative juices to replenish. Without that, there are no books.

How do you replenish your creative soul?