My project for course: Novel Writing: Bring Your Book Project to Life

My novel is not finished—far from it. I still have a couple of months till I finish my first draft, and a year before, I will start showing it around.
Thanks to you, I fell in love with it again. I also realized that I had to work harder and be realistic about my plans.
I am a single mother of three, and I have my own translation company in a very competitive world. I juggle many creative projects simultaneously. I help with the social media accounts of a theatre company, where I am part of the musical improv cast. I also sing in a choir. I am also co-writing a script for TV. I sometimes write and perform a stand-up comedy set in Spanish. I love doing many other things, including sewing my curtains and knitting my socks.
This will sound crazy, but whenever I am stuck in a project, instead of getting frustrated, I start working on something else, and the thing that got me stuck in the one project suddenly vanishes. This means that I am working on many projects at the same time. That means that I work slowly but then deliver many, many things at the same time.
When I first started your course, I didn’t have the inspiration or drive to continue writing my novel, “La niña robada” (=the stolen girl), which is loosely based on my childhood. Other writing projects demanded my attention, so I chose one—just one. This was it. I was slow. I thought the world (me) needed this story to come out.
My story inspired me, but I was afraid because it meant so much work.
And then I listened to your course. And then I listened and took notes.
There were many aha moments during your course, but these are my top three:
1) I am writing now more than ever—at least 6,000 and even 10,000 words a month (before there were 500). Whenever I have a writing session, I don’t stop until I have at least 700 words. I also ponder it in my morning pages (I write them EVERY DAY). I talk to myself about it and then sit. I try to find the inspiration BEFORE I sit down.
2) I also realized that I need to be realistic about how long it will take me. Although sometimes I can write 2000 words in a day…Sometimes, I cannot do it because I am busy with other projects. Sometimes, what I write is an exploration that gets me to a dead end…and I have to start over again. This meant that the plan in my head of writing something in a couple of months had to be changed to one year and a half.
3) Don’t write things in order. That has been a game changer in terms of productivity and inspiration. I write the bits I feel like writing, the ones that inspire me…and I realise how much better they are than when I write uninspired or forced.

Thank you!! I will probably listen to it a couple of more times. I need to be reminded time and time again that my story needs to be heard.