The Most Important Tool in Your Writer's Toolbox by Susan Van Kirk

 

When I first became a writer, I used to think that chance played an important role in my writing career, and perhaps it was the most important tool in my writing toolbox. Joining Sisters in Crime led to the discovery of my editor. It was chance that caused me to read Lourdes Venard’s blog posts about how to find an editor at exactly the moment I was looking for just such a person. Was chance the most important writing career tool?

 No, as it turns out. While Lourdes has been an important influence on my writing, I didn’t realize the most valuable tool until recently—the last six months to be exact. It happened, once again, by chance.

 

Last January, I became president of the board of our nonprofit art center in my small town. I’d been a board member for four years, and figured it was my turn to step up. Unfortunately, our executive director resigned three weeks later for another job, leaving us without the person who knew everything about directing the art center after her ten-year run. She was amazing. Many of the board members were still employed in full-time jobs. I wasn’t. So, it was only logical that I should fill both jobs—president and director—until we found someone to fill the director’s shoes. At the time, I didn’t realize how completely this job would take over my life.

 

And that was when I learned the most valuable tool in any writer’s toolbox.

 

You might think I’m going to say, “time.” It’s true that time is important, but even more important when your time suddenly disappears, is the ability and self-discipline to use your brain to think deeply during your brief free time without being distracted by the rest of your life.

 

How often do our lives go by with mundane problems and checklists? How many conversations do we have with people about exactly that—what’s for dinner? Can you pick up the dry-cleaning? Did I remember to pay that bill? Suddenly, you’re at the end of the day, and you’ve spent it on the minutiae of life.

 

When time is condensed suddenly by a job you hadn’t expected, and writing is relegated to the background, you must use what little time you have to solve writing problems by concentrating more deeply in a shorter amount of time than you had months earlier.

 

It works. I can write around and around in circles as easily as anyone else but using my brain to genuinely think about where this work-in-progress is going saves time and keeps me on track. Yes, I’m slower, but still I’m making progress because my limited time has caused me to think through each step along the way. I’m not wasting time the way I used to. I’m forcing myself to concentrate. Once again, chance has led me to change the way I work so I can keep adding to my latest novel.

 

I know chance isn’t supposed to make plots work because it seems a little too convenient to the reader, but it does work in real life. I’m proof of that.