What Consistency Actually Looks Like Right Now
“A Crime Writer’s Routine: Staying Consistent Through a Novel Edit”
I don’t have much to write about this week, but I am reminded a lot about the importance of consistency. Consistency doesn’t look like much most days. It looks like sitting down at the same desk, doing the next unglamorous thing on the list, and then doing it again the next day. Worth actually saying what that’s looked like lately, rather than leaving it vague.
The hardest part of editing is the first ten minutes. It seems like an eternity to sit there and wait for inspiration. But slowly it comes when I read aloud a sentence, and then I can get into the character’s point of view.
I think the wonderful weather we are having now has a lot to do with it. I can’t ever remember a summer like it. It is boiling at night, and when I walk the dog at 7 am, it is still hot. That isn’t unusual in Ireland. It is remarkable.
But early in a 60-day edit, it can feel boring, and I struggle a little to find consistency in it. Consistency is what I do, though. I show up every morning whether I want to or not. Eventually, the creative juices flow.
That’s the other thing I’m trying to focus on, which is staying in the process. When I get anxious, I usually find I am getting overly concerned about outcomes. There is not much I can do about them. If I focus on what I am doing or trying to do daily, I am calmer in myself. Creativity comes from calmness.
Book 2 of the JJ Haze series, Delivered, is on its second structural edit. That means numbering and naming chapters, tracking word counts chapter by chapter, and making sure the shape of the thing holds before I trust the sentences inside it. Not exciting work to describe. But it’s the actual work, and it’s moving.
It hasn’t all happened alone at a desk, either. Last week I met with a local writer here in Wexford—the conversation reminded me that this process gets easier to sustain when you don’t do it all in isolation. I’ve also joined a writing club and a book club through my local library this year—different rooms, same instinct: staying around people doing the same kind of work or reading the kind of books I want to write.
Regarding Substack, this Autumn I plan to introduce a paid tier. It will be there for those of you who wish to support my writing, and I have other plans there as well. More on that later.
That’s roughly where things stand: a manuscript edit getting steadier one chapter at a time, a local writing life that’s grown busier than I expected, and a plan taking shape for how to fund the next stretch of books. Nothing dramatic. Just the next thing, and then the next one after that. If literary agents are not willing to go with my idea, I won’t be starting from scratch. I will continue to gain momentum to publish or self-publish these books. I set up Substack to build my mailing list and provide some help, if I can, to the subscribers who follow me. If you require any help, please DM me. I always check my messages.
Regards,
Maurice P.
Photo 1 by Markus Winkler on Unsplash, Photo 2 by Andrew Neel on Unsplash, and Photo 3 by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash.