I’ve been posting a bit less than usual the past few weeks. August was intentionally a skimp period, given my brief mid-month vacation, but I full anticipated getting back into a steady writing and posting rhythm in September.

That…didn’t happen.

There are several factors, but importantly, I was visited by the brilliant idea of painting my craft room over Labor Day weekend, which in my youthful days would have been an achievable task. In this era, priming and painting a 14×20 room, including trim, and patching, sanding, and painting the ceiling, and priming and painting the door because it look ratched in a newly-painted room, and rearranging furniture, and putting away art supplies and hanging artwork…was not a one-weekend project.

It was not a two- or three-weekend project. Four got me pretty close and I think five will do the trick.

I did learn an important lesson, however. My muscles don’t move as quickly or for as long as they did 20 years ago, and they need longer to recover. Working on the room during the week was totally out of the question. My next project will be painting and patching the ceiling in an upstairs bedroom and I’ve penciled in three times the work hours I originally planned, spread out over a significantly longer period.

These lessons are also applicable to writing, providing me a bridge back to my usually good writing and posting habits.

Writing lessons I learned painting my craft room

Pace yourself.

Three 8-hour days in a row is a lot of manual labor for someone not accustomed to that kind of work, and this applies to your creative brain, even if you are accustomed to regular writing sprints.

As tempted as I am to have a few marathon writing days to “catch up” on what I’ve neglected the past few weeks, that wouldn’t necessarily be a great idea. I’ve done that in the past, and creative hangovers are a real thing. If I go too deep into my writing for too long a period, it’s hard to pull back. Even when I try to shut down, my head feels overheated, like a car that’s been driven too far without stopping. It interferes with my sleep too, because my brain keeps working on the next scene or sentence or story problem.

Don’t wreck your most important muscle with overwork.

Break down your project into component pieces

I actually did break down the painting project into smaller projects; my mistake was trying to complete all the smaller parts over a few days. If I’d spread them out like any sensible person, I wouldn’t have spent the past few weeks hunched over like Bob Cratchet trying to absorb the heat from a single lump of coal in a potbelly stove.

This is a handy trick for creative work, too, especially if you feel stuck, overwhelmed, burned out, or simply too busy to write. Break your chapter or story down into scenes, your scenes into beats. If you can’t manage a full writing session, pick one component. Describe a setting or character, flesh out some dialogue, or work on scene transitions. Sentences become paragraphs and paragraphs become pages. No one needs to know how you got there.

Leave room for embellishment

I hadn’t planned on painting the trim or the door but they both looked like crap next to the freshly painted walls, so the project took a slight detour to completion.

Your writing might present similar challenges and opportunities. Even if you outline thoroughly, stay open to adding some color or flavor you didn’t anticipate. Let the work surprise you. If you have a better idea as you’re writing, follow your muse.

Stick to it.

Finish. Even if it takes you four times as long to get the job done, do it. The sense of satisfaction is fantastic, and you’ll have something to show for your effort.

Wait until the major work is done to make it pretty.

Always do your best work as you go, but don’t spend too time on set decoration until you’re finished with the foundational work. Hang artwork, shelve books, and put up knickknacks after you’ve done the heavy lifting.

I’m bad about this creatively – I tend to edit as I go and backtrack when I get a better idea. Sometimes it works to my benefit, but not always. I make an effort to avoid re-writing, ie: word choice, description, etc. But I can’t move forward if I know that an earlier chapter needs a structural fix.

Appreciate the flaws.

The ceiling could have used another sanding and I’m sure I missed a few dots of paint on the floor, but I’m satisfied with my efforts.

Your story will be the same. We should never be lazy about our flaws, but sometimes, they hide from us until the work is done. Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’ll get it next time.

PS – If 14×20 sounds luxuriously large for a craft room, that’s because it is. This used to be the dining room, but I live alone in a six room house, not including kitchen, pantry, and baths, so I get to purpose my rooms as I see fit. In 10 years, I neither ate dinner nor entertained in the dining room, so craft room it is. Until I change my mind.

PPS – You may have noticed an inordinate amount of ceiling patching. This house was built in 1885. When you are 140 years old, you will leak. You will leak everywhere.

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