Hayley Chewins's Blog

for novelists who don't have a book idea (yet)

Today’s episode of For Novelists Who is a bit more of a conversational one.

I’m one of those writers who waited for a long time to actually start writing.I waited because I didn’t have a Great Amazing Book Idea.I waited because my life felt small and insignificant.I waited because I had no idea what I wanted to say.If this is you, I have some stuff to tell you. Settle in with a cup of coffee and push play. . . :)

for novelists who struggle with resistance

A kind listener wrote to me and asked if I could talk about resistance, so that’s what we’re going to talk about today.Resistance. Which is…what exactly? The way I see resistance—it’s this tension point between wanting to do something, and simultaneously wanting not to do it.It’s like your brain—or soul, or being—is being pulled or pushed in two different directions at the same time. It’s like constantly swimming against the tide—you’re kicking your legs and pumping your arms for hours, and in the end you’re completely exhausted, and you’ve made zero progress.You know the feeling. It’s soul-killing. Bone-draining. But you know what isn’t soul-killing and bone-draining?Flow.Flow is the opposite of resistance. Instead of swimming against the tide, you’re going with it. You’re in harmony. You’re one with whatever you’re trying to make. You’re not fighting it.So the question is, how can you move from resistance to flow?Here’s one trick I use.Try to write at a time of day when your brain is most open to dreaming. For me, it’s 4 a.m., when no one is awake except me and the most conscientious birds. When I get up really early to write, my brain is still half-asleep, half in dream-state, and it’s easier to trick it into writing the stuff that doesn’t make sense. The part of my brain that produces resistance—the part that resists flow by telling me that my work is stupid, that no one is going to like it, that I have nothing to say, the part that is critical and striving and forever barking at me to be better—it’s drowsy at 4 in the morning. But the dream-part is wide awake and full of energy.So find your best dreaming hour—whether it’s 4 in the morning or 10 at night—and meet your writing there.Think about swimming in the sea. The first bit is the hardest. You have to walk in, against the waves. The water is cold. But once you dive in, your body adjusts to the temperature of the water. Best of all, once you’ve swum out into the deep, you can float, letting the water take you. You can swim with the waves, instead of against them. It’s the same with writing. In the beginning, your brain might feel a little cold. It might take a little time to warm up, for the words to come. But stay in the discomfort. Stay with it. Soon, you’ll be deep enough that you can start to swim.You’re going to have good days and bad days. Sometimes the ocean you’re wading into will seem too scary, too deep, too vast.So don’t concentrate on the whole ocean. Concentrate on your feet in the sand, your calves in the surf. Walk in. Push to get there. Once you’re deep enough, a wave always comes.And when it does, it’ll always catch you. 

for novelists who struggle with self-doubt

Are you a writer? Do you doubt yourself?Do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking, “How am I ever going to write this book? I can’t do it. I just can’t. Someone else should write it. Someone better. Someone braver. Anyone but me.”Do you avoid writing because you doubt you can do your story justice? You’re in good company. All writers doubt themselves. It comes with the territory. Writing is basically hanging out with uncertainty all the time. All the time! (And yet, some of us seem to think this is fun??)I’ve got good news for you, though. You don’t have to give up self-doubt before you start writing, or before you continue. You don’t have to graduate to some higher plane of no-doubt-land before you can write the book you were born to write.You just to have to write it anyway.Wanna know how? Listen below!After you’ve listened, let me know how you’re going to deal with self-doubt in the future. Comment below! Because the doubt isn’t going anywhere. But we are. Happy writing!Hayleyxxxx

For Novelists Who Struggle With Self-Doubt

Are you a writer? Do you doubt yourself?Do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking, “How am I ever going to write this book? I can’t do it. I just can’t. Someone else should write it. Someone better. Someone braver. Anyone but me.”Do you avoid writing because you doubt you can do your story justice? You’re in good company. All writers doubt themselves. It comes with the territory. Writing is basically hanging out with uncertainty all the time. All the time! (And yet, some of us seem to think this is fun??)I’ve got good news for you, though. You don’t have to give up self-doubt before you start writing, or before you continue. You don’t have to graduate to some higher plane of no-doubt-land before you can write the book you were born to write.You just to have to write it anyway.Wanna know how? Listen below!After you’ve listened, let me know how you’re going to deal with self-doubt in the future. Comment below! Because the doubt isn’t going anywhere. But we are. Happy writing!Hayleyxxxx

for novelists who worry whether their story even matters

It happens to me every now and then. I’m struggling through another draft, another revision, another scene, and I catch myself thinking, Why am I even doing this? What’s the point? The negative thoughts flood in: What gives you the right to write this book?So many writers could do it better than you!This is worthless.This doesn’t matter to anyone.There’s no point to this.The world is a scary, terrible place—and you think a book is going to make a difference?You should be doing something better with your time. On and on.Thankfully, at this stage of my life, I’ve gotten used to noticing this kind of self-defeating inner talk for what it is: nonsense.It’s utter nonsense.Stories matter. Books are important. Stories are life. On the days when I find myself really blighted with negative thoughts like these, I give myself pep talks.Writers need pep talks, just like everyone else, right? Today I’m going to share one with you. (Listen below!)Because your voice matters. Your story matters. This isn’t pointless. Using language to shape the world is a profound act of hope. We need art in these dark days. I’m here to remind you of that. I recorded this podcast on my phone. Nothing fancy here. This is just me, a writer who sometimes forgets that writing is deeply valuable, reminding you, a writer who may sometimes do the same, that words are powerful.Once you’ve listened, I’d love to hear from you. What do you tell yourself when your mind goes into negative thought overdrive? How do you ground yourself in the importance of your work? Let me know in the comments.Thank you for being here.Now—go write your book. Love,Hayleyxxxx

For Novelists Who Worry Whether Their Story Even Matters

It happens to me every now and then. I’m struggling through another draft, another revision, another scene, and I catch myself thinking, Why am I even doing this? What’s the point? The negative thoughts flood in: What gives you the right to write this book?So many writers could do it better than you!This is worthless.This doesn’t matter to anyone.There’s no point to this.The world is a scary, terrible place—and you think a book is going to make a difference?You should be doing something better with your time. On and on.Thankfully, at this stage of my life, I’ve gotten used to noticing this kind of self-defeating inner talk for what it is: nonsense.It’s utter nonsense.Stories matter. Books are important. Stories are life. On the days when I find myself really blighted with negative thoughts like these, I give myself pep talks.Writers need pep talks, just like everyone else, right? Today I’m going to share one with you. (Listen below!)Because your voice matters. Your story matters. This isn’t pointless. Using language to shape the world is a profound act of hope. We need art in these dark days. I’m here to remind you of that. I recorded this podcast on my phone. Nothing fancy here. This is just me, a writer who sometimes forgets that writing is deeply valuable, reminding you, a writer who may sometimes do the same, that words are powerful.Once you’ve listened, I’d love to hear from you. What do you tell yourself when your mind goes into negative thought overdrive? How do you ground yourself in the importance of your work? Let me know in the comments.Thank you for being here.Now—go write your book. Love,Hayleyxxxx

why I’m okay with being obnoxiously optimistic

You are small and kind and you can do this.

I was talking to my friend Lindsay this morning and she called me obnoxiously optimistic. And I was like, Yep! That’s me.I’m owning this. I am obnoxiously optimistic.I am also totally okay with this. Let’s face it. We live in a time when pretty much any form of optimism is seen as obnoxious. I can hear the voices right now: How can you possibly be optimistic right now? Haven’t you heard of war and racism and poverty and sexism?You must be stupid to be optimistic in 2020. You must have buried your head in the sand. And to all of this I say: How can you not be optimistic right now? Seriously, how do you survive?No—seriously. I want to know.Because optimism feeds me. Without optimism, I’d stay in bed all day with a heap of blankets pulled over my head. I’m not advocating for blithe, unaware optimism.The kind of optimism I’m advocating for has action at its core. What I’m talking about is the belief that you can make a difference—even if you only make a difference to one person.What I’m talking about is the belief that if you look at a problem with clear eyes and an open heart, you can figure it out. This is the kind of energy we need today.We need it more than ever.We need it when we write our books.We need it when we interact with our families, colleagues and communities.We need it when we wake up every morning. WE NEED IT.Why?Because hope is productive.Joy is a force. And no one ever got anything done in a state of despair. Come on, let’s be honest—we’re writers! We’re sensitive people! We are deeply affected by the horrible stuff that’s going on in the world. And without optimism, we’re screwed. If we stay in bed all day with a heap of blankets over our heads? Nothing is ever going to change. I’m not saying we should all smile blandly and turn away from the world’s suffering. Actually, I’m saying the opposite. I’m saying we should turn towards it and ask: “How can I, a small, kind person, make this better?”I’m saying we should be ambitiously and pragmatically optimistic.Because I believe that if we all do this—if we all keep waking up with hope, and continuing on in hope—things can and will change. This is how change happens. One obnoxiously optimistic person at a time.

PS. Want some more pragmatically optimistic content? Check out my pep talks for writers, or my books! (Plenty of hope included.) xxx

the sisters of straygarden place has a cover!

I’m so thrilled to be over at Mr. Schu Reads today, revealing the cover for THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE and talking about how many drafts (spoiler: there were many!) I wrote to find the story these sisters—Mayhap, Winnow and Pavonine—belonged in. Check it out here! Love,Hayley

my writing manifesto

My word for 2020 is trust.I want to trust in my writing. I want to trust in my intuition. I want to trust that what I’m doing is enough.I chose this word because, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been frantically striving for…something. I always have goals. I’ve always been ambitious. I’ve always been running and running and running. And I just want to breathe. That’s part of it. The other part of it is that I’ve been focusing way too much on the outside stuff in publishing. By which I mean: everything that isn’t writing. Social media, fiddling with my website, marketing courses, obsessively checking my email, agonising over bad reviews, reading and rereading good reviews, daydreaming about book deals and stressing about the future. All of this outside stuff has come to dominate my life. And it’s making me miserable.So, after an extraordinary talk with my extraordinary agent, I’ve decided that 2020 is going to be an inside-out year, and not an outside-in year. What does that mean? It means the writing comes first. It means writing in a way that feels good to me and trusting, really trusting, that that will be enough. In the spirit of this new approach, and because I know that moments of clarity like this are rare and fleeting and that I’ll soon find myself back in the panic zone again, I decided I would write a manifesto for my writing this year. It’s now stuck to my desk. This is what it says: Follow the language into the story.Outlines should always be vague enough to allow for play and exploration.Revise from the source of the thing, not from the thing itself. Take one day off every week. Non-negotiable.Write one thing at a time.Use the special teacup, the special notebook. Use them now.Joy is a force.Freewrite every morning before getting started. Remind yourself why you love to write.Walk Darfer every day to loosen your thoughts.Always write with great hope.Now, every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is make coffee and read my manifesto out loud. It’s a reminder, and a prayer, and a pep talk—all in one. I’m sharing this so that you know that if writing has been making you miserable lately, you can always turn back toward what feels good to you as a writer—what feels like magic, what feels like falling in love. When you do that, when you live from the inside-out, everything gets better. So let’s trust the way we write. Let’s write in a way that feels great to us. Let’s declare our intentions to the world.Happy New Year!

four reasons you're not writing your book

You have an idea for a book. Or you have a draft of a book. Or you have an outline for a book. You desperately want to start writing or revising—but you can’t. Every time you open the document up on your computer, you just…can’t.What’s going on? Is there something wrong with you? Firstly: no. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a writer. Welcome.Secondly: if you’re struggling with this, I’m here to help. With the caveat that every writer—and every book, and every situation—is entirely unique, here are four reasons you’re not writing your book.One: you are tired. Okay, be honest. Have you just finished writing a book? Have you just finished a big revision? Are you, like me, juggling three manuscripts at once and expecting them all to be perfect? It might be that you’re not writing your book because you’re creatively/physically/mentally tired.Solution? Rest! Seriously. Take a few days (or a few weeks) off writing. Let yourself do nothing. And I mean nothing. Give yourself a break.Two: you are tired of this book.If you’ve been working on this project intensely, you might just need a break from it. This is normal. It doesn’t mean you hate your book. It just means you need a bit of distance—the kind you need in all healthy relationships. Solution: take a break from this book. Write other books, or don’t write at all. Let yourself write in your notebook for no reason, or do random writing prompts. Whatever feels good to you. (Note: if you’re on deadline, you obviously can’t do this. But you can build tiny, aimless, daydreamy breaks into your day. Which I highly recommend.) Three: you don’t really want to write this book (anymore). Look, it happens. Sometimes you fall in love with an idea and then, 10,000 words in, you find yourself falling distinctly out of love with it. Sometimes you realise you actually don’t have the skills to pull a book off yet. Sometimes you just get bored. Solution: give yourself permission to put the manuscript aside for a little while. See how you feel. Are you missing it? Or not? Be honest. No book wants to be written by someone who doesn’t really want to write it. Four: you are terrified. You’re scared the revisions won’t pan out the way you want them to. You’re scared you don’t know how to make the changes the book needs. You’re scared your draft is going to be bad. You’re scared your mother/friend/sister is going to hate the book. You’re scared you’re in over your head. Etcetera. Solution: WRITE! Seriously. If you’re afraid of writing a book, you should definitely and absolutely write it. Fear is a good sign here. Write towards it. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, write in short bursts of ten minutes, or make a list of revision items and do one a day. Just keep going.