Your Favorite Writing Moments of 2019

Posted by David Duhr in ABCs of Writing      39 comments

Dec
14

Discussion questions: Tell me about your favorite 2019 writing experience. Did you have any memorable breakthroughs where your story, or even your entire book, came together? Or a moment where you realized you were creating the best writing you’re capable of? Is there a particular writing session that stands out as the most successful and/or most enjoyable? Did you receive any surprising feedback that made your day, week, month, or year? 

In January I passed out to my writing group the first chapter of my revamped novel, and then held my breath for nearly a month before we met to discuss it.

After fooling around with these characters and their setting for over half a decade — five years’ worth of false starts and frustration and failure — I felt I had finally finagled… ugh, enough with the alliteration already, David… a fully fleshed out foundation and a forward flow.

(This is what happens when I write these posts while in a weird mood.)

In other words, my book was taking shape, and for the first time, I was showing it off to a group of people. Not just people — writers. And as our meeting date approached, it became clear I had a lot of feelings wrapped up in their response. Much of it fear-based.

But they really liked it, and wanted to read more. And what’s more, I believed (still do) they were sincere. In part because they had plenty of (mostly helpful) criticism.

I needed that confidence boost. Since then, I’ve moved forward in my book with renewed energy. It was one of my finest writing moments of 2019.

I wrote about another favorite moment a few weeks ago, when we all shared the best passage we’ve written in 2019. (There’s still time to add yours!)

I was reading through Chapter 4, after a few weeks’ hiatus, and I actually laughed out loud at something I’d written.

Moments like that, where I impress my own self, are very, very few and very, very far between.

In late June I was on a beach in Portugal’s Algarve. The weather was perfect, even if the water was colder than anything I’ve ever experienced, and that includes Cape Cod in late fall.

But while my body was soaking up sun on a European beach, my brain was spending time with a group of imaginary (well, sort of imaginary) factory workers in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As the waves crashed and Justine stared vigilantly into the water looking for shark fins, I wrote a scene in my little blue notebook where my two main characters interact with the patrons of a dank and dark small-town bowling alley on an ugly, stormy afternoon.

Different worlds.

I didn’t write a ton that day, and what came out was nothing special, but it was easily one of my favorite writing experiences of 2019.

These are the kinds of things I want to hear from you. Down below, tell me about some of your favorite 2019 writing experiences.

WriteByNight co-founder David Duhr is fiction editor at the Texas Observer and co-host of the Yak Babies podcast, and has written about books for the Dallas Morning News, Electric Literature, Publishing Perspectives, and others.

WriteByNight is a writers’ service dedicated to helping you achieve your creative potential and literary goals. We work with writers of all experience levels working in all genres, nationwide and worldwide. If you have a 2019 writing project you’d like a little help with, take a look at our book coaching, private instruction and writer’s block counseling services. Join our mailing list and get a FREE writer’s diagnostic, “Common problems and SOLUTIONS for the struggling writer.”