How to succeed as an easily distracted writer

2. Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses

I started referring to myself as a novel hopper because, well, I needed a positive- or neutral-sounding word to call writers like myself. ;)

I would characterize a novel hopper as a writer who:

1. Is constantly jumping between many projects.

2. May have dozens of stories in some stage of development.

3. Is viscerally excited by new ideas to a ridiculous degree and frequency.

4. Spins up new novel ideas on a regular basis while struggling to commit to any one project for a long period of time.

You might notice that I do use a lot of negative words and descriptions like "struggling" or "lack of commitment." I know that, at the end of the day, many of us want to finish a project. To type The End. And yes, being excited about starting can often get in the way of finishing, as we all know! This book aims to help you maintain a work style that makes you happy, while bolstering the skills that will help you see your many projects off to the finish line.

I like to think of my weaknesses as either things I would like to improve upon, or things I have difficulty doing but either can't improve upon or don't feel the need to. It's important to recognize the difference between the two types.

But this book also aims to help you focus on your strengths, too! If you will allow me to self-indulge, I'd like to recount some of the superpowers I've found we Novel Hoppers tend to share:

1. We will never worry about what to write next. Writing will be a lifelong passion!

2. We have an internal wellspring of enthusiasm that isn't tied to one single story!

3. We can frequently motivate ourselves to write huge word counts in a short period of time.

You may relate to some of these more than others, but I can guarantee that you have strengths of your own that you should always give yourself a high-five for.

I think it's important for writers to learn to work with what they've got and play into their strengths; I also think it's important for writers to be able to identify their weaknesses, be realistic about them, and learn how to mitigate them.

Novel Hoppers are prone to:

1. Taking a million years to finish a project, if we ever finish one at all.

2. Being more excited about the beginning of a project than the middle or the end.

3. Having a few major weak areas, especially the farther along a project goes.

4. Having an overwhelming number of scattered ideas, none of which are full novel ideas.

5. Having trouble building the connective tissue of a story; the stories might exist as clumps of first chapter drafts or spotty outlines or some scattered scenes or magic system concepts.

6. Stopping work on a story when the period of raw excitement ends.

7. Getting down on ourselves for not completing anything.

It's great to be able to recognize our weaknesses, too. :)

The rest of this book will be dedicated to maximizing our strengths and minimizing the negative effects of our weaknesses, or learning how to work alongside them. The next chapter will look at how to discover what energizes you about your writing, and what drains you.

Let's go!

QUESTION: Take inventory of what you consider your strengths and weaknesses. Which are weaknesses that you can improve upon, and which aren't? (Be generous with yourself! Be courageous!) What are your strengths that you'd like to high-five yourself for, be it things you're good at writing, or things about the process you're good at?