A lot of writers think, “If I just had more time, I’d write more.” In 2020, many writers had more time to write, yet most of them ended up writing about the same amount as before. Few had the dramatic increase you might expect during a pandemic.

So, what really keeps us from being more productive writers? Is it writer’s block, and if so, how do we overcome it?

I asked author Robin Lee Hatcher. She has written over 80 novels and novellas, with over five million copies in print. She has won the RITA Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, and the National Readers’ Choice Award, along with Lifetime Achievement Awards from ACFW and RWA.

Thomas: Robin, how did you get started?

Robin: I got started in my twenties. I had always loved to read and was a voracious reader. In high school, I wanted to be an actor, which is just another form of storytelling. One year, I was doing a newsletter for a horse association, and I got bored writing articles like, “Winter’s here. Give your horse more grain.” I started writing little pieces about what my colt looked like riding through the snow beside the mare.

Around that time, I read a newspaper article about a woman who had sold her first novel. Shortly after that, I read a book whose ending I absolutely hated. I thought, “Well, if that can get published, I can get published.” I was completely ignorant about how tough the business really is, but that ignorance made me sit down and put pen to paper.

I wrote the story that had been rolling around in my mind for about nine months. I first wrote it out longhand, then I typed it on the office typewriter during lunch hours and coffee breaks. I sold it the following year. The publisher promptly went bankrupt, so I resold it and its sequel the next year. That was the start of my career, back in the early eighties.

What was it like writing before computers?

Thomas: Back then, writing longhand was the only option. There were no laptops. Now, many authors intentionally write first drafts by hand to slow themselves down and escape internet distractions, but back then, you had no choice.

Robin: Exactly. I bought my first computer with the advance from my first book. It had two seven-and-a-quarter-inch floppy drives and no hard drive. It was slow as molasses. The printer shook the house as it printed on dot-matrix paper. It took hours to print a full novel. I am very grateful for today’s technology.

Thomas: And then you had to peel off the perforated sides of the paper. I remember those days.

How did you become so productive?

Thomas: You have written over 80 books. How did you become so productive?

Robin: In the beginning, I was working full time and raising my daughters as a single mom. I would come home, fix dinner, the girls would do the dishes, and I would go downstairs and write. I had a very definite schedule. Monday through Thursday nights from 7:00-9:00 were writing time. I also wrote on Saturday mornings while the girls slept in. I saved Friday nights and weekends for family.

I quit my full-time job the month my ninth book came out. I told my agent, “If you can get me a year’s salary in advance, I’ll quit.” I did not think she could do it, but she did. So I quit and, I have been writing ever since.

In some ways, it was easier to be disciplined when I worked full time. When your schedule is wide open, it is easy to say, “I’ll write five hundred more words tomorrow if I take today off.” Then tomorrow becomes next week. You have to learn to control that temptation.

Why doesn’t more free time lead to more writing?

Thomas: That helps explain why the pandemic did not make us all dramatically more productive. You had a tight schedule. You knew you only had a couple of hours, and when they were gone, they were gone. Constraints often produce great art.

Green Eggs and Ham came from a challenge to write a book using only fifty words. That constraint produced one of Dr. Seuss’s most popular books. What you think is your biggest obstacle may actually be your greatest asset if you learn to work around it.

Robin: That is absolutely true. Many creatives think they have to feel creative in order to write. I have learned that it is simply a matter of sitting in the chair and moving your fingers on the keyboard.

I tell aspiring writers that if you have junk you need to get out, then write it. You cannot fix anything that is not written.

When I was a bookkeeper, there were days I did not feel like keeping books, but I did it because I was paid to do it. Writing is my job now. I sit down and write, whether or not I feel like it. If I have to write junk first, I do, and then I fix it later.

Thomas: I like to compare it to turning on the shower. At first, cold water comes out because it has been sitting in the pipes. You have to let it flow before the hot water arrives. We all have bad writing in us, and we have to let it flow so the good writing can follow.

That ties into a spiritual principle. We can choose to act by faith instead of by feelings. Did you ever dislike a book that did well, or like a book that failed? I have had that experience many times. Faithfulness matters more than feelings.

Robin: That is exactly right. I learned that lesson while writing The Shepherd’s Voice. I burned out writing that book. I never felt connected to the characters. I was sure it was the worst thing I had ever written and that my career was over.

Instead, it won the RITA Award and several others. It taught me that I cannot trust my feelings about my work. I have worked hard at my craft, and I have to trust that work even when I do not feel it.

That book is still meaningful to readers twenty years later. I was writing about faith in the midst of trials. I was writing what I knew, even though I was not feeling it. The lesson was simple: do not trust your feelings. Keep working. Be faithful. Do the next thing.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

Thomas: Do you believe in writer’s block?

Robin: I believe in it in a certain sense. For me, writer’s block usually means I do not understand my characters well enough. I do not know enough about their past. When I try to force a character to do something they would never do, they resist. That is my signal to go back and work on the backstory.

Thomas: That is a helpful way to frame it. In my experience, writer’s block is often fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of finishing. Fear of letting others see the work.

Saying “I’m blocked” can become an excuse to avoid accountability. That reminds me of Jesus’ parable about burying a talent out of fear. That is not a healthy approach.

Robin: I agree. Fear is almost always involved. Even when I am struggling with characters, there is fear underneath it. When I need to come up with a new proposal, my first thought is often, “I will never have another idea again.” Panic sets in.

I have learned to step away and do something mindless, like scrubbing the wall above the stove. Before long, ideas start flowing again. Fear shuts down creativity. You have to let go of fear, trust God, and trust the process.

How do you track your writing progress?

Thomas: What tools do you use to track your progress?

Robin: I am a Mac user, and I keep a lot of information in Day One, which is a journaling app. I also use a ten-year journal. Each day, I write my word count and note what is going on in my life.

I used to track pages when I printed everything. Now I write in Scrivener, so I track word count instead. Keeping those records helps me look back and say, “You wrote through difficult seasons before. You can do it again.”

Thomas: This is a powerful management principle from the business world: what gets measured gets managed. Sometimes the simplest way to improve performance, whether for your employees or for yourself, is to measure it.

You do not have to tie measurement to bonuses or punishments. Just the fact that something is being measured dramatically changes behavior. It seems like it should not matter. You should not need to write down how many pages or words you produced in a day, and yet it makes a massive difference over time.

I do not fully understand why, but I have seen it in my life, in my employees’ lives, and across many companies. Some form of measurement matters, whether you jot it on paper or use an app like RescueTime to track how many minutes you spent in Scrivener. The method is less important than the fact that you are measuring.

Robin: It really is powerful. I did not start tracking because someone gave me the kind of tips you just shared. I did not even know it was a proven strategy. It was simply something I naturally do. I am a planner, and I like to write things down, so it became a habit.

Then I realized it was a healthy habit because it encouraged me. In seasons when I felt discouraged, looking back at what I had done gave me perspective and renewed my motivation.

What pitfalls can derail the writing habit?

Thomas: What other pitfalls have you noticed that cause authors to lose time or fall off the writing bandwagon?

Comparison

Robin: Comparison is a big one. It does not matter whether you are unpublished or traditionally published, it is always a danger.

I often think about the end of the Gospel of John. Jesus tells Peter what the end of his life will look like, and Peter points at John and says, “What about him?” Jesus essentially responds, “Do not worry about him. You follow me.”

That is the point. Keep your nose out of someone else’s business. Pay attention to what you are supposed to be doing.

Comparison is the death of creativity. It damages your soul. Reviews and critiques can intensify that comparison. Some authors never read reviews because they know it will crush them. You need to know where you are on that spectrum.

If reviews damage your spirit, do not read them. Do not go to Amazon or Goodreads. Protect your heart.

We need to write for an audience of one. If we are Christian authors, we should be focused first on pleasing God. Yes, we want readers. Yes, we want people to say, “I love your books.” That is wonderful. But if that becomes the focus, we are in trouble. Write to please God, and the rest will follow.

Thomas: That is a high standard of quality.

Imagine you were presenting your manuscript to the Queen of England. Even if she is not your queen, you would want it to be your best work. If you would do that for a human monarch, how much more should you do it for the King of all the world?

Some people say, “I’m writing for God, so it doesn’t matter how good it is.” That is a misunderstanding. The difference is that the queen will not lift a finger to help you. God will. He is guiding you and leading you. But that does not lower the standard. It raises it. As Christians, our books should be better because we are holding ourselves to a higher standard.

Becoming Your Own Worst Enemy

Robin: Absolutely. Another danger is becoming your own worst enemy.

There are moments when you think, “I can’t write. I couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag.” I do not know any author who has never had those moments of uncertainty, the feeling that writing a book, or another book, or another book, was a huge mistake.

Whether that is the enemy whispering or simply the natural temperament of creative people (it is probably a combination), we have to shut those voices down. We have to say, “Get behind me, Satan. I’m not listening to you.”

This is what I am called to do. This is what I am going to do. Get out of my head. Then I press forward. I sit down in the chair and move my fingers.

Thomas: It is like putting blinders on. It is so easy to look left or right and get pulled off course.

I once talked with an award-winning author and an indie bestselling author, and they were both jealous of the other. The award-winning author envied the indie author’s money and sales. The indie author envied the award-winning author’s prestige and acclaim.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. There will always be someone who seems further ahead or successful in a different way.

The temptation is to put on Saul’s armor and try to become something you are not. When you do that, you stop being who God made you to be. You become less effective, and you do everyone a disservice, including yourself.

What makes a story a Christian story?

Robin: To be clear, I have not written 80 Christian novels. My first 30 were in the general market, so I have written more than 50 in the Christian market.

When I started writing, there really wasn’t a robust Christian fiction market. It was mostly Grace Livingston Hill and not much else. There were faith-adjacent books in the general market, too. The Robe was published in the general market. Ben-Hur was, as well, although that goes back even further.

That is where I sold my early work. But I drifted from the Lord during that time, and He had to get my attention. As He healed my heart and restored my faith, He got hold of my writing, too. I knew I needed to write for Him and not write anything that would not please Him. That became my commitment.

Now, not all Christian fiction is as overtly Christian as mine is. I tend to write more in the style of Francine Rivers. My books are very direct. I am not saying there is anything wrong with a parable approach or a more subtle style. It is simply different.

For me, Christian fiction should point to Christ. You can write inspirational fiction that teaches good lessons without ever using the name of Christ, but that is not the kind of fiction I write, and it is not what I prefer to read.

To me, Christian fiction needs Christ at the center. At the very least, it must clearly carry a Christian worldview. We should never be mistaken about that if it is going to be called Christian fiction.

Take C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan represents Christ, and Christians recognize that. Non-Christians may not fully understand it, but they can still see the Christian worldview. I love that kind of fiction, too. But when someone recommends a Christian novel to me, I want to know Christ is at the center.

Can Christians write non-Christian books?

Thomas: The worldview matters, and the Christ-centered element matters. At the same time, you are free as a Christian to write books. You do not have to write explicitly Christian books.

A Christian plumber is still a Christian, he just does plumbing. In the same way, you can be a Christian who writes, but you cannot write books that dishonor Jesus. You need to know whose team you are on. You do not want to write a story that pulls someone farther away from the Lord.

At a certain point, if your writing is consistently leading people away from Christ, you are not a Christian writing books. You are simply someone writing books.

Robin: That is where I was during my general market career. As I continued to sell, I made compromises based on what editors wanted. I was young and inexperienced, and I went along with requests I should have questioned.

It took a hard lesson and a deep restoration for me to say, “I will never go there again.” That influenced why my later books became more overtly Christian.

I just finished writing the Legacy of Faith series. Years ago, I was wondering what to write next. I was reading my Bible, the same Bible I have used for more than twenty years. It is full of highlights, dates, comments, and notes. It is not a wide-margin Bible, so my scribbles go up the sides and across the top. I love it. If it ever falls apart, I will have it rebound because I do not want to lose those memories and lessons.

As I looked at it, I thought, “What will this Bible mean to my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren I will never meet?” That question birthed the Legacy of Faith series.

In the series, an ancestor born in 1905 passes his Bible down to great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren in the contemporary storyline, and his own story is told, too. The Bible ties the generations together. Scripture naturally appears throughout the books because it is part of the characters’ lives, and it is part of mine.

Sometimes people say, “People don’t talk like that.” What is interesting is that I do talk like that with my friends and neighbors. This is how we are. Just because someone else does not speak that way does not mean it is not real. For me, Scripture and faith are a natural outflow of my relationship with Jesus.

How does an editor’s culture affect what feels “authentic”?

Thomas: That is an important point. If your editor lives in a place where evangelical Christians are a tiny minority, like parts of New York City, and you are writing for readers in the South where evangelicals are common, your editor may flag things as unrealistic simply because they are out of touch with your target readership.

That is worth considering as you work with an editor. Is your editor part of, or at least adjacent to, the audience you are trying to reach?

I ran into that dynamic with a book I wrote for young people about dating and relationships. I wanted one of my editors to be a fellow young person. The older editors kept marking things as inaccurate because they did not recognize the context. The younger editor would say, “This makes perfect sense.” I fought to preserve those moments because I knew who the audience was. I was not writing for a 60-year-old who has been married for forty years. If it did not resonate with that older demographic, that was okay.

Which Bible character encourages you while you write?

Robin: That is a hard question. I can easily tell you my favorite Bible character, though. It is Peter, because Peter messed up a lot, and I mess up a lot. I relate to him.

I just finished writing my first biblically set novel, and it is full of Jesus. I spent every day in the Gospels. Every day I was writing about Capernaum, and later Jerusalem, so I was constantly reading the stories of Jesus.

All of the disciples have been on my mind, but I will stick with Peter. I feel a real connection to him, almost like we are family.

Thomas: I can relate.

Which transition happened first, full-time writing or Christian publishing?

Thomas: Which happened first, your transition from secular to Christian publishing, or your transition from part-time to full-time writing? When did you make those changes?

Robin: I went from part-time to full-time while I was still writing for the general market. The transition to the Christian market came after that.

That shift was a journey of about six or seven years of God working in my life. I believed I had destroyed my testimony. I believed God could never use me again because I had messed up.

Sunday after Sunday, God used sermons to bring deep healing. He also brought Christian writers into my life through Romance Writers of America, before ACFW existed. Angela Hunt, Francine Rivers, and many others became friends, and their books influenced me.

Then God introduced me to Christian editors at Christian publishing houses. Eventually, they asked me for proposals. Even when I received an offer, I could not accept it until I knew God was calling me to that path and not simply giving me another place to sell books.

It took months to reach clarity. I remember praying on my way to a hair appointment, “God, I’m not hearing you. If you need to use a two-by-four, please use it, because I need to know.” One Sunday, He did. It was like being hit with a two-by-four in the middle of the service. My life changed from that point on.

I called my agent the next day and said, “Accept the offer.” That has been the road ever since.

Thomas: That’s really cool, because it’s a scary transition when writing is your full-time income. You’re supporting your family. Pivoting from the larger, more lucrative general market to the smaller, and arguably less lucrative, Christian market is a major decision.

And it’s not only a money question. It’s also, “Do I have a message that will resonate with this audience? Am I the kind of person who can write for them?” I can see why that transformation took time. We often pray, “God, change me right away,” but His gentleness and patience are part of His kindness. If He changed us all at once, we might not survive it.

How does God use painful seasons in a writer’s work?

Robin: The stories that came out of that season of healing are probably some of my best-loved. They came from deep places of hurt. My most beloved novels came out of hard lessons, places where God brought me through and taught me a lot.

My first husband had several extramarital affairs, which finally ended our marriage. Something that happened during one of those early affairs led me to write The Forgiving Hour more than 25 years later.

Looking back, it’s amazing how clear it becomes. In the moment, you wonder why you have to go through it. Then God uses it to help you minister to others. There’s nothing more beautiful than that. I can thank God for the hard places in my life because He really has turned ashes into beauty.

Any final encouragement for aspiring writers?

Robin: I would tell aspiring writers to press on and not listen to the voices of doubt. It’s very easy to listen to them.

Try everything. You will hear all kinds of advice about what you should do, and early on, try it all. I’m an intuitive writer and I write by instinct. I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer. Plotting makes me want to bang my head on the desk.

But try everything because you need to discover who God created you to be as a writer. Experiment, then keep what works for you.

Connect with Robin Lee Hatcher

• RobinLeeHatcher.com
• @RobinLeeHatcher
• Day 1 App
• 10 Year Journal 
• RescueTime
• John 21:22
• The Shepherd’s Voice
• The Legacy of Faith

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