How I Write Today: Brette Sember

Brette Sember is the author of dozens of books and the blog MarthaAndMe–An Honest (But Sometimes Unsuccessful) Search for “Good Things.” At the time of this writing, she was preparing for a Martha Stewart inspired Thanksgiving (read on for the secret recipe behind it).

For about ten years, I focused mainly on one kind of writing – nonfiction, self-help. I wrote over 35 books about topics such as divorce, pregnancy, business, families, finances, and law. Looking back on it, I must be more disciplined than I think to have written all those books – many while I still had a very young child at home. Although each book was different, ten years is a long time to focus on one kind of writing and for quite some time, I’ve toyed with other paths – picture books, essays, fiction, and some projects like indexing, editing and ghostwriting. Some stuck, some didn’t, but none really fulfilled the creative void I was facing.

I think that many people don’t think of non-fiction writers as “creative”. After all, we’re not dreaming up plotlines and characters or waxing poetic about the sunset. But there is an important element of creativity involved, as well as a certain discipline and attention to research. I had reached a turning point where I wanted to take those skills and do something else with them.  I wanted to give my creativity more free rein and have more time to listen to the voice inside me.

This led me to start a blog – a whole new world of writing for me, where I was free to explore what I wanted, without attention to outlines, book proposals, or editor expectations. My blog is MarthaAndMe and it began as a way to chronicle my journey as I gave my life a Martha Stewart makeover. I’ve been blogging about this for about a year and while it has been exhausting, it’s also been fun. I committed to doing one Martha Stewart project a day (cooking, crafting, organizing, cleaning, decorating, etc.) and blogging each day. It’s no small matter to create a blog post once a day – particularly if each one requires time-intensive cooking or crafting! There was never any question in my mind about completing it though and somehow I’ve actually really done it.

Again, as with how I wrote 35 books in 10 years, I’m not really sure how I managed to physically do it. I’m a stickler for deadlines and promptness though, so I do have an inner push to meet commitments and get very panicky if I can’t. That translates to my writing life too, so that’s my only explanation for being able to stay on track with this for an entire year!

Brette later added, “The blog has taken a bit of a turn with the one year mark. I’m still doing Martha, but my focus is now on trying to do Martha in a way that fits my life. Before, I was doing one Martha project a day which was a lot (especially for a whole year). Now I’m trying to do projects that appeal to me and I’m also cooking my own food, while still showing how Martha has influenced me.”

[Most definitely what a writer's inner journey is all about.]

Tagged as: writing rituals, writing truth

Email This Post to a Friend