How to Be a Wild Writer
On trust, chaos, and the magic of first drafts—plus a new offering for novel writers
During the last week of March, I sent another draft of my manuscript to my agent. This is the second revision we have done together. I’m so proud of how this book has taken shape over the last few months and so grateful for my agent’s guidance and insights along the way. I’ve never worked with someone on a novel edit before—besides beta readers and my writing partner—and seeing what collaboration can do for a story has been incredible. This sense of creative support actually sparked something new. More on that at the end!
While I wait for her thoughts and hopefully the okay to go out on submission this Spring/early Summer (!!), I’ve been thinking a lot about the next novel I want to write. I’ve known for over a year now what it will be about, but I haven’t actually written a word of it yet. Not only have I simply been distracted with my current novel, but I also have come to realize that I’m a writer who needs a kind of gestation period. I need to daydream about it first. This goes for all my projects. I recently wrote two personal essays that I’m sending out to magazines and both of them required lots of afternoon walks and aimless car rides to understand what they were about. I love to do the work in my head first, then come to the page in a kind of burst when I simply can’t hold it in any longer.
I’m getting to that point with novel number two. I’m ready to let it all explode into a Word document and see what I’ve been mining this whole time.
The desire to write another novel has also got me thinking about the type of writer I need to be in order to make it happen: a wild writer.
To me, the wild writer is one who understands the value of being able to let go. First drafts are challenging. It’s hard to know you are writing clumsily, that your plot is all over the place, that your hours and hours of work will only result in more work. That you are writing towards the mess when your instinct is to find order in chaos.
For me, one of the biggest takeaways that came from completing my first novel was a renewed trust in myself. I had to trust myself every time I wrote another draft, cut another page, and rewrote my opening pages again and again and again. I had to trust that my story was worth pursuing when I became frustrated or discouraged. When I had moments of doubt it would ever come together. I had to trust my passion and worthiness when I wrote my query letter. Sometimes, this trust felt reckless— a wild thing inside me. But now I see it was that wildness that pushed me through. And that is what will guide me as I write my next novel.
Embracing the wild writer within means remembering to hold it all loosely. It’s a reminder that I can do this, that I want to do this and that I’m ready to be surprised, to be delighted, to discover, and to embrace the messy draft, one word at a time.
This philosophy, the recklessness of the first draft, has inspired me to create something I’m beyond excited to share with you today.
✨ The Wild Draft: A 6-Month Novel Writing Cohort
I’m facilitating a novel writing cohort! I’ve been longing to hold a novel writing group for those who are ready to start working on their first draft, or have perhaps started but crave community, structure, and the guidance of an experienced writer and writing coach in order to finish it.
We’ll meet bi-weekly on Zoom from June through November. You’ll receive feedback, creative assignments, and structure to help you actually finish your draft—with a group of people rooting for you the entire way.
The draft you complete here is just one outcome of the journey. What you’re really building is a creative practice: a way of thinking, noticing, and returning to the page with intention. The pages are evidence, yes—but the real magic is what you’ll carry forward: deeper trust in your voice, a framework for finishing things, and a rhythm you can return to again and again.
This experience is a container for your full creative growth. If you have a story inside your heart you can’t stop thinking about, The Wild Draft: A 6-Month Novel Writing Cohort is for you.
Let’s write the wild thing together. Join me this June!
This sounds AMAZING!!
👏 👏 👏