Refreshing Your Writing Practice, Part 4
Why accountability is the new/old go-to for a sustainable writing practice
What’s new in my writing room: When you’re working on a short-story collection, it’s partly bits and partly a whole—you can revise in the bits of each story and you can revise globally. Revising in bits is way easier for me this month, with my attention being so short-lived (thanks to the garden). I chose two of the fifteen stories this week for revision and—whew!—my trusty writer’s group liked the changes. I love the accountability of showing up for this group, which is the subject of my post today.
What’s new in your creative life? What kinds of accountability work for you?
This is the last of a four-part series on refreshing your writing practice, started way back in March when the landscape was still white and frozen. Now I look out on green, green, green, augmented by the steady rains we’ve been having in the Northeast through May.
Here’s what we’ve covered so far.
In March, my post was on: Build yourself a community and why that’s vital to a sustainable writing practice. Check it out here.
In April, we talked about the fun and benefit of mixing up your practice using my PEDS method. Read about it here.
Last month, we talked about ways to freshen or develop a writing routine—the post is here if you want to read or review.
This week, we’re talking about the final of my four big tips: Get yourself a working system of accountability. But most importantly, find out what makes you accountable.
What makes you show up for your writing?
Long ago I read (and wrote about here) a book by Gretchen Rubin, of Happiness Project fame, called The Four Tendencies. She unfolded such a world to me, in regards to accountability. Mostly, I learned about how we are each wired to some amount of internal or external accountability.
Finding out what makes you accountable is the key to actually getting stuff done. To showing up. To keeping your promises to yourself and your creativity.
Here’s a close-to-home example from my life.
I belong to a gym (not a gym rat yet but slowly getting there). They offer an amazing array of really good workout classes. I like the Pilates mat classes. You have to register for them ahead of time and they sell out within hours. I set my phone alarm and most often get in.
But! Here’s the accountability lesson, and it really works:
Because these classes are so popular, the gym has a caveat: If you register and don’t show, and you don’t cancel within an hour of the start time, you get penalized. It’s not much, but boy, does this make folks accountable. I can’t just not go, last minute. It forces me to get in the car, drive the ten minutes to the gym, get on my mat.
I always, always love it. And benefit. But it’s the accountability system they’ve set up that makes it work for so many of us. Smart, yes? Not uncommon, either—my friend’s Y does the same with their select classes.
I know I’m externally accountable. I work well with deadlines. But maybe a penalty for not showing up wouldn’t faze you.
Let’s explore the difference between internal accountability and external accountability, and find what works best for you.
Internal accountability
I’m going to put this in terms of writing, of course. Say you’re writing a book—just starting. A very fun time. Enthusiasm for your book often skyrockets in the beginning: there’s plenty of internal accountability because you’re on fire with ideas. It’s easy to show up at the page. The writing goes well.
You’re finally doing what you’ve wanted to do for years!
I’m used to these honeymoon periods in my own writing practice and have witnessed them so often with my students. They can last a while—sometimes into completing a first draft. Super exciting to be carried on such a wave.
Internal accountability doesn’t require support or feedback. It builds on itself, as long as the momentum is there. Sometimes, this creates a solid writing habit, all by itself. The more pages you write, the more successful you feel about your book. It is alive for you!
Most of us have experienced this. We can’t wait to write every day (or however often you do). This is internal accountability at its best. It all comes from inside you.
What happens next?
Say you make it to a complete draft of your book, story, whatever. Now what? You still read it with a glow—or maybe that glow is beginning to wear off. If you’ve ever sailed through Nanowrimo (National Novel Writers Month) or 1000 Words of Summer, it’s hard to land afterwards.
Maybe a crisis happens in your regular life to break the engagement, and you stop for a while. When you reread your draft, the words sound weird. The flow feels shaky. What were you thinking?
The Inner Critic, always hanging around, waiting for an opening, snatches your heart. Are you really a writer? Probably not. Might as well stop now, before anyone else reads this. Or maybe get some feedback to let you see what’s needed?
Of course, you know where I’m going with this. The first feedback that contains any level of criticism? The internal accountability dries up overnight. Many writers, especially if this is a first book, will walk away at that point.
This is where the other kind of accountability comes forward to drag you back on your feet: external accountability.
External accountability
A moment came in my own writing life when I realized internal accountability wouldn’t take me past that initial flush of first draft. It was super valuable, for getting the passion on the page. But continuing into revision? I needed something else, because this was hard!
Writers who know that internal accountability has limits, know that they will need external support and deadlines. Like my gym penalty program for not showing up, we writers need to create a support team for accountability.
Ever read the acknowledgements pages of your favorite books? Most published writers thank legions of supporters. Support = accountability. People care if you show up, or not. That’s what each one of us needs. Or so I’ve learned.
So how do you set up your own support systems, i.e., external accountability?
Setting up external accountability
These are just a few ways I use. Please share your own in the comments after the weekly exercise! I’m excited to hear how you keep yourself writing.
Online classes! I take them regularly. I love the sense of community and how classes boost the external accountability with weekly deadlines. They also teach us how to ask for the kind of feedback that keeps us going, rather than deflates. A multi-week class, if it’s working as it should, gives us time to gather back our internal accountability and recommit to the project.
Writers groups! I have a monthly exchange on Zoom with two other writers who make me work hard! Even when I don’t really want to show up, I’m committed to not waste their time, so I hone my stuff before the meeting.
Note: writers groups are not all roses. It’s important to seek out and cultivate one that boosts your internal accountability, gives you enough belief in your work to go forward. Too much critique too soon, or if one person dominates, or if you only get positive comments when you’re ready for more depth, you might falter. Be discriminating!
Writing partners! Two of my colleagues are wonderful editors, and we’ve exchanged chapters and whole manuscripts for years. We do it when needed, not regularly, but it’s a real gift. I met one in classes, one in a writers group, and kept the connection alive. I try to show up for them as they do for me. The great thing about writing partners is that you can circle back with questions if feedback isn’t clear or you’re stumped on where to go next.
Accountability partners! A cool idea that emerged from writing retreats I used to lead was the accountability partner. Writers who found a sympatico friend during the week stayed in touch. Accountability partners don’t read and give feedback. They just are there for you. You check in by text or phone or email at an agreed-upon time/day and simply report. What you did. What you thought about. How much you wrote. What you avoided. It’s a fabulous thing—really. Two of my students who were weekly accountability partners for a year went on to complete their manuscripts, just from that external support.
Beta readers! When you’re far into your project, beta readers are the best. Check out this post about the magic and value of beta readers, those first readers for your completed manuscript. Incredible gift to find good ones. (Link is from my newsletter page on my website, in case you’re not a paid subscriber here and can’t access past posts.)
Agents and editors! Nothing like an agent or editor deadline to put fire under your heels, right? I take these two types of professionals ultra seriously, so I always show up. I’m not above renegotiating a deadline I can’t meet, but I always try. They aren’t, in my writing life, as much for everyday questions and prodding. But again, so valuable in the whole picture of a writing life.
Reward or penalty systems
I’m not much for systems that praise or penalize me if I achieve or slack on a writing goal, but I know they work well for others.
If you are motivated by treats, and it really makes you do the thing you’re avoiding, it can be magic. A writer in my classes gave herself a YouTube break to watch music videos when she reached a certain, difficult word count on a chapter she didn’t want to revise.
Equally, the penalty is a motivator for some. A writer I knew set up penalties for herself like this: If I don’t meet my word count today, I’m going to have to call my mother tonight. Obviously, she didn’t want to make that call, so she forced herself to win the word count goal. Create a penalty that really feels like a hardship, similar to my gym class no-show rule, and it might keep you writing.
Toggling between the two accountabilities
I’ve learned that the two types of accountability toggle back and forth in a healthy writing practice.
Internal accountability, which keeps my enthusiasm strong and new ideas coming, depends on how much external accountability I have in place.
So I set up both, when I start a new book project.
I plan my writing time each day, I make lists of what I want to work on (to avoid the horror of the blank page on a bad morning), I read voraciously and study the craft. But I also set up deadlines for feedback, and I sign up for online classes. Especially with summer approaching, kids out of school, travel planned—what’s going to keep you accountable to your writing?
What internal accountability do you have, and what have you set up externally as support? Try the exercise this week to figure it out and give you a boost going forward.
Your weekly writing exercise
Check out this post by Gretchen Rubin on external accountability tips, especially for those of us who oblige others over ourselves.
Then free write for 10 minutes on the summer ahead of you. How much do you want to stay connected to your writing practice? What external accountability would help that? What might you put in place now?
Shout Out!
I love to give a shout out to writing friends and former students who are publishing their books and encourage my newsletter community to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers. Be sure to let me know if you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months! Just email me at mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! (I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)
Karen Hart, What Is the Deep State? 10 Steps You Can Take Right Now to End Its Influence: A Citizen’s Guide to Taking Back Power (Independent Publisher), May
M.J. Milne, Universal Tides: A Quest for Light in Tides of Change (Blue Heron Publishing), May
E.H. Jacobs, Into a Wider Sky (Parisian Phoenix Publishing), July
I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.
I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. it was also a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Book of 2024. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, was published in October 2023 and also became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.
Thanks for this. I like to write in bits too- it’s less overwhelming. My new accountability is Substack, publishing at least once a week. Although, since external motivation works well for me, I need to find a writing group of my own!