In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Matthew Duffus offers suggestions for writers trying to get back to their creative work after a long break. Duffus admits that he didn’t write for a year after completing his MFA. “Between exhaustion from completing a readable draft of a novel on deadline and the confusion caused by having too many critical voices in my head (thanks, workshop), I didn’t know where to begin, let alone how to get to The End of something,” he says.
The following helped him get back in his seat:
- Set a challenge. Rather than a writing challenge, Duffus set himself a reading challenge. “I needed fresh ideas, both for what to write and how to do it,” he explains.
- Start small. Planning out a whole novel felt daunting, so Duffus started with 3×5 cards. “I filled the lined side of one index card per day for the next month,” he says. “By the end of that period, I had the beginnings of a longer piece that I was already dedicated to pursuing further.”
- Try a new style. Inspired by his 3×5 card notes, Duffus decided to write this manuscript in first person. He also tried a new mood. “In the past, I’d been known for what were dismissed as ‘quiet’ stories, so this time I decided to go loud,” he writes. “I wrote long, circuitous sentences that stacked metaphor on metaphor, clause on clause, and often did not end when I ran out of space on my card.”
