We are still in the 3-day energy of the New Moon in Libra. Here’s what it can mean for your writing.

This post comes a day late, but we can still harness the new moon energy in our writing! It’s said that there’s a three-day window: the day before, the day of, and the day after. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the new moon is a time of beginning projects and setting goals and intentions. The idea behind this is that as the moon “grows,” as does the fulfillment of your intentions.

Libra represents balance and logic and stability. This new moon in Libra is excellent for creating an outline. In the Tarot, Libra rules the Justice Card, a card purely depicted as Air energy: logic and communication.

New Moon in Libra & Your Writing 

As I mentioned before, the logic of Libra and the intention-setting energy of the new moon indicate this an excellent time for outlining your novel. Likewise, it can be a great time to create a plan of action for your writing process. This is almost as important as having an outline for your plot:

Planning your writing process means:

1. Knowing What Environment Supports Your Creativity Best.

We all have different spaces where we write best, whether it’s a coffee shop, in the stillness of our room, our office space with dubstep blasting, or in the quiet of a library, or the freshness of a park. Having a list of places you can go and be while you write will be handy for when one of those places isn’t available or an option.

It’s important to note, too, that you can create your own optimal writing environment by working on programing your mind to write when you want it to. This does take time, patience, practice, and discipline, but I can be done. This is helpful if, for example, you’re a coffee-shop writer, and the area you live in is in lockdown.

2. Knowing the Time of Day that You Write Best

I am a staunch morning writer. No matter what time I get up, whether it’s 4 in the morning or 9, I hit 3 or 4 o’ clock and I hit my slump. After that it’s like pulling teeth to continue writing.

However, I do not speak for all writers. There are plenty of writers who don’t hit their creative groove until 1 in the morning. Knowing the best time for your writing will help you organize your schedule to accommodate.

3. Knowing How You Experience Exhaustion

Knowing what exhaustion feels like so you can be aware of upcoming burn out is essential. We are all going to hit the wall while we’re running, and we are all going to get knocked down. Until we know what it feels like to approach that wall, or approach burn out, we’re going to run into it a few times.

This is especially true when we’re determined to get through a project, it’s easy to push ourselves to the absolute max. This is the active energy that society and western culture encourages: keep working until you drop. For so many people, “I’m so busy” is a positive mantra. It means that we’re productive, and that, for many, can equate to our worth.

However, writing a book is a balance between active and passive energy. In the tarot, this energy is often called masculine and feminine energy, however, this isn’t the most inclusive terminology, and raises a whole mess of problems. Instead, we active energy (associated with fire and air) and passive energy (associated with water and earth).

When we’re writing or working on any form of creative work, we are harnessing and balancing active and passive energy. The passive energy is the creativity itself. It’s making space for that voice to come up and through you, to connect to that interesting part of yourself that sees the world a little differently, and has a dire urge to express it. The active energy is the creation itself—painting, writing, dancing, singing.

To write is to find balance (libra) between the two.

4. Knowing What Measure to Take to Prevent Burn Out

This means knowing yourself enough to know what you need to rest and recover in a healthy way. The best way you can prevent burnout is to know yourself and know what’s approaching and how to cut it off at the pass.

For me, personally, I know that burnout happens when I don’t practice certain things, like daily meditation, journaling, drinking enough water, and exercise. I know it’s approaching when I take on too many things and I don’t communicate my needs and limits.

You can read more about burnout in a blog post here or by clicking the button below:

5. Knowing How to Care for Yourself When Burnout Strikes

The first thing you need to remember to do is remind yourself that it’s okay that burnout happens. And everything is going to be there if you stop and give yourself permission to rest. That’s the hardest challenge—to convince yourself it’s alright to recover. But you can’t effectively do your work if you don’t have any energy. Open communication is one of the best tools you have.

When you do hit that wall, spend some time reflecting when you can. Ask yourself

• if you can recall the warning signs leading up to burn out
• when would have been a productive time to give yourself permission to rest before you hit the wall

Most importantly, forgive yourself for hitting the wall. When we hit a wall, we fall backwards. We might even stay down for a little while, and that’s okay. You need to make sure you’re okay and that you haven’t damaged anything. The force of hitting that wall might have broken your nose or given you a concussion. It’s okay to spend time recovering. Give yourself that permission.

6. Making a Plan for Setting Boundaries Surrounding Your Writing Time

There are a lot of people who don’t understand what it means to be a writer. They think you can just sit down and write whenever you want. But it is essential that you create a sacred, off-limits time to write, which can be difficult.

When you create a plan ahead of time of how to communicate the importance of this time with your friends and family, then it becomes a little easier. With time, they’ll understand, or at least, get into the know that you are not available to move your writing time around.

You are allowed to set boundaries for your creative time. And they will learn to respect it, though it will be a process. You don’t need to make excuses, just set the boundaries.

7. Creating Balance

As mentioned, this new moon in libra is about balance. We’ve talked a lot about setting boundaries and protecting your writing time and creativity as well as yourself during the creative process. But the other thing that needs to be balanced is your time with your loved ones.

Your community, family, and social network play an important role in your mental health. Making sure you still have time, whether it’s a day on the weekend or a couple hours in the evening for some quality time with those you care about can not only keep you motivated along your writing, but help to recharge your batters.

If, for example, you want a career as a writer, then you need to know how to balance work and personal life. It gets tricky when your work is from home, especially if you don’t have a designated office. Starting to understand this balance now, before your income relies on it, will be essential and more than helpful later down the line.

Balance is the Key

Balance is the key when you’re planning your outline, or when you’re making a writing process plan. If you have too much plot, then your characters get washed out. If you have too much world buildings, then your plot becomes obscured.

If you have too much work, you hit that metaphorical wall, which has been known to halt a project or two.

The above list is by no means exhaustive. They are just some of the things to keep in mind as you set your writing intentions. This is essential to think about if you’re planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.

Support Through NaNoWriMo

Having support during National Novel Writing Month, or any other time during a massive writing project can the difference to seeing you to the end or a project or the project halting altogether for many writers.

For so many people, 2020 has just been one punch to the gut after another, and they just need a win. As a result, there are a lot of writers who are putting pressure on this year’s NaNoWriMo to be their one win for the year. If they can just finish their novel during this time, then at least something good will have come out of this year.

That’s why the doors to the Intensive Writing Program are open for the first time, though only until October 23.

The Intensive Writing Program, or Package, includes one-on-one support with me as your writing coach, with weekly hour-and-a-half-long coaching calls to help you work through blocks, to hone your writing routine, to overcome obstacles, to talk through your plot/characters/setting, as well as anything else you need to get you through finishing your book.

The entire time you’re writing, I’ll read 12,000 words of your WIP a week, keeping me up to speed on your novel so when we have our coaching calls, I know exactly where you’re at so we can discuss it thoroughly.

Once December hits, that’s when the real fun begins. We spend time discussing a revision plan, looking at holes in the plot, things that might need to be rearranged for the ending to make sense, how to breathe your villain to life—whatever it is your book needs to work. Again, the whole time I will be reading what you write/rearrange/revise. Because I’ll have read it while you write it, you’ll spend less time having to re-read and take notes before your begin revision. I’ll have already done it.

The final two weeks of December will be dedicated to two more rounds of edits, which will go faster than you think, given that I’ll be line editing each time I read through your work in December.

There are only five openings for this program, and the doors are closing October 23^rd. If you want to learn more about it, click here or use the button below to reserve your placement. If you have any questions, fill out the form below the button (titled Book a Free 30-Minute Session with Me), and I’ll be happy to answer whatever I can.

Happy Writing!