Happy New Year! The holidays are a lot, so I haven’t posted a blog lately. Thanks for rolling with me through the end of the year. With it only being the SECOND today, I’m not prepared for my retrospective of ’23. With that in mind, we’ll continue with the Revisited series today by discussing how important it is to refill your well. We’ll hit the Year in Review next week. I hope you had as wonderful of a holiday as I did with my family (or better!) and that you’re ready for a new year.
Drawing from the Well
I only got a little bit of writing done recently. As I said in the opening, the holidays were a lot, even if a lot of good. Still, in the last few days, I wrote a couple of new chapters and identified an additional new chapter I’ll need. I’m making progress toward finishing this part of the Red Edit. I look forward to moving on soon.
Pages 322
167,048/177,234 Words
Filling the Well
I hit goal! It was a mad rush at the end, but I made it. 105 books was a lot, but there was a lot of good in there. I’ll review everything next week including my Six-Star Book of the Year. The important thing for this week is that I’m scaling back just a bit. 105 was hard so I’m going to go back to my goal from ’22 of 100 books. I’m working on the first completion of the year so hopefully I’ll have that next week in City of Stairs. It’s heavy so far, but it’s good.
105/105 for #ProjectBookworm2023
0/100 for #ProjectBookworm2024
Well Chat
The very next day after last post’s Revisited post, I hit on something that helped shape the blog going forward. On January 22, 2019, I hit on the concept of Refilling the Well. This is important advice, so let’s review.
The crux of the OP here was that you have to have energy within you in order to create. I used the metaphor of an ink well. You have to fill it with ink in order to have ink to use to write. I still very much believe this, which should come as no surprise because of the titles in this blog. Refilling yourself and resting is vitally important. It’s currently branded as “self care,” but I prefer to call it rest and revitalization. It’s not enough to relax; you have to fill yourself back up or you’ll have nothing to give to your audience, prospective or actual.
What has changed here is the specifics. Four years ago, it was video games and reading. These still count, but family time also refills me now. It can drain me too, but sitting around playing a board game with my wife and kids ignites my soul and creates a wealth of “ink” to use. My reading cadence and strategy has changed too. I still try to squeeze in physical or eBook reading time whenever I can, but audiobooks have gone a long way towards filling that roll over the last few years. Most of the books I read now are audiobooks. It helps keep the well filling all the time.
One other thing that I have noticed fills my well without actively pursuing it is music and daydreaming. And I mean that simultaneously: music + daydreaming = ink. The music quiets the noise of everyday life in my mind and allows me to project into my creative works. I get lots of ideas this way, usually for books far down the line. Still, to borrow V.E. Schwab’s six-burner stove metaphor, it allows me to find herbs, spices, and ingredients to throw in the simmering pots for later. This is a great exercise that provides a wealth of ideas.
How do you refill your well? Do you have specific strategies or favorite pastimes? Sound off in the comments or on social media. I would love to hear from you. Happy New Year!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG