Low-Mo Day Hacks 2 & 3

Two more ways to tackle the days when you want (or have to) write but don't feel like doing so.

Premium subscribers, scroll to the bottom of this email for the audio version of this post and a special link to the Clarified Butter Outline. Yay!

Heyo, Butter Writers! Just in case you haven’t checked out my last post, we’re talking about how to hit our goals on low-motivation (Low-Mo) days. Check out my absolute favorite hack for writing 3,000 words when I really don’t effing feel like writing 3,000 words here:

And here are my other two favorite hacks for getting through Low-Mo days:

HACK #2

Sometimes, resistance to writing is really a murky sense that you don’t quite know how to execute what you want to write.

So the next time you find yourself cleaning your toilet, regaling your partner with an unnecessarily long story about something that happened to you in 5th grade, or prying the phone out of your couch potato twin’s hand to ask what they’ve been doing all day (even though it’s self-evident), try a Clarified Butter Outline instead.

This is basically an outline that clarifies your chapter and why readers will enjoy it. I use these at the start of every chapter whenever I want to hit finish on a book quickly (my version of sharpening the axe).

But on Low-Mo days, I take the extra step of writing out the synopsis in the tense of my story and the point of view of the chapter’s narrating character.

Here’s a sample Chapter 1 from when I used Clarified Butter Chapter Outlines to help me through a rough transition from holiday mode to finally getting back to writing on Kayla in Paris, a former Harlequin story that I was expanding into a full book after changing the narrative to a first-person POV.

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Compelling Overview: Sweet and recently humiliated Kayla meets bold and bad Mick, who offers her a naughty one-night stand.

Status: Original chapter in need of heavy edits.

POV: Kayla

Synopsis:

1. BEGINNING: I was trying not to cry when some guy I couldn’t see sat down next to me, but I lost the battle. I felt so stupid and gullible, looking at my naked ring finger.

2. MIDDLE/MEET MICK: He assumed I was overwhelmed to be sitting next to him. At first. Then, he assumed I hated takeoff and landing, like him. Then, he cheered me up—no more questions asked.

3. CLIMAX: I very accidentally flirted with him, and he wickedly offered me a one-night stand.

4. CLIFFHANGER: But I had to say no. I had to. Didn’t I?

Reader Experience: Audience is curious about the backstory behind why she’s crying. Instantly attracted to Mick because he’s rough and direct.

BUTTER MOMENT: Mick gives her the first glimpse of how good he would be to her with his unexpected care.

KW WISH: A hot guy who is nothing like your ex ferries you through a moment of emotional wreckage.

Potential Pothole: The come-on is a bit rough and not Buttery. Make it even more rough but not off-putting. Really need to hang a lamp on her not being the kind of woman guys offer hot one-night stands. Highlight that in the next chapter. 

Butter Comps: Crazy Stupid Love, when Ryan Gosling first comes on to Emma Stone.

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We’ll go over this Clarified Butter Chapter Outline even more thoroughly in my upcoming BUTTER BEGINNINGS MASTER CLASS.

But for now, premium subscribers can find a link to a Google doc with a blank outline and explanations for each bit below the butter jump.

HACK #3

Do something else that’s not your WIP.

If you’re wondering why you got a Sunday post about Low-Mo days, there you go.

Just make sure that whatever else you choose to do fits neatly into this sentence, which I often use for scoring my day at the end of the night:

“I didn’t write, but I’m so glad I…”

Examples for me over the month of June included:

...finally wrote that Low-Mo days post that’s been percolating in my head.

…spent a wonderful day with my daughters before they went off to summer camp.

…iterated on my direct sales ads (thanks to the Skye Warren/Ines Johnson Direct Sales course).

…had a Bridgerton tea party with my eldest daughter.

…carefully reviewed my first quarter financials so that I could make informed goals for the rest of my year.

I didn’t get to it this month, but I also adore it when I can seriously reduce the messages in my dumpster fire of an inbox. Fingers crossed for July! 🤞🏿🤞🏿🤞🏿

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