In Media Res: It’s Not Just Where The Story Starts

If you’re anything like me, the Latin phrase, In Media Res, brings back memories of dusty chalkboards and those uncomfortable chairs that had desks attached to them. You know, the ones you sat in a long (long) time ago while listening to your high school English teacher deconstruct literature.

I’m the type of reader who loves getting lost in a story, not stopping to analyze it—but those lessons must have made an impact, because all these years later, I still think about that phrase.

Translated, it means in the midst of things, and according to our beloved English teachers, it’s where the story starts.

But I’d like to suggest that it’s not only the story that starts in the middle of things. The writer must also start in the middle. In the middle of life and all its craziness. In the middle of kids and parents and bosses and vacations and never enough time. There is never enough time.

That’s important, so I’ll say it again: there is never enough time.

A few years ago, I heard Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative, speak at a conference.  One of the biggest lessons I took away from his presentation was the idea that time is a currency. He suggested that if you want to find out what you truly care about, simply look at how and where you spend your time.

In my twenties and the first half of my thirties, that wasn’t writing.

I cared a lot about work, and I spent most of my time trying to make a name for myself in the creative department of an advertising agency. When I wasn’t working, I was traveling, binge-watching TV, spending time with friends, going to concerts, reading, and every so often, I would pick up the novel I’d been “working” on for fifteen years.

That isn’t a typo.

It took me fifteen years to finish the first draft of my first manuscript—mostly because for the first fourteen years, my writing wasn’t a priority. I was busy filling my creative well, spending my time elsewhere, living the stories I’d write about “one day”.

“One day” came during the summer of that fourteenth year. I realized I would never finish my manuscript if I didn’t finish the manuscript. It sounds simple, but it was a eureka moment for me. I decided to give myself six months. By the end of that calendar year, I would have a finished draft. Not a polished one, just a finished one.

That deadline was a game-changer because it gave me permission to choose writing. There were times I chose writing over happy hour, over brunch with girlfriends or a movie I didn’t really want to see.

Choosing writing didn’t always mean sacrificing something else. Sometimes, I chose to stay at the office for an extra hour to get my words in instead of rushing home to make dinner and sit on the couch. Other times, I chose to get out of bed a little bit earlier so I could get some words in before going out to meet friends on the weekend.

If you look at where I spent my time that year, you’d see that slowly but surely, writing was becoming more of a priority.

The number of hours in my day didn’t change, the number of other obligations and things vying for my attention didn’t change. I just changed the way I looked at my writing—as something that deserved my time and attention.

One of the common themes I hear from writers who are just starting out is that they don’t have enough time. They talk about that elusive ‘someday’: when the kids are grown, when work slows down, when this or that happens. They are waiting for the perfect time to write.

Well, I’m here to tell you that the perfect time doesn’t exist. “Someday” will always be off in the future unless you start spending your time working toward that goal. It’s okay to start small, with just fifteen minutes a day. That’s how novels are written—word by word, minute by minute.

Life doesn’t stop, and it probably won’t slow down. You will always be in the middle of things, but that’s where the story starts.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Founder of the Every Damn Day Writers, Alison Hammer has been spinning words to tell stories since she learned how to talk. A graduate of the University of Florida and the Creative Circus in Atlanta, she lived in nine cities before settling down in Chicago, where she works as a VP creative director at an advertising agency. You & Me & Us is her first novel. Learn more at https://www.alisonhammer.com/.

YOU AND ME AND US

“Hammer is an expert at both tugging heartstrings and keeping the reader utterly immersed in a world of hope and heartbreak. A great new voice in women’s fiction.”– Kristin Harmel, #1 international bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife

The heartbreaking, yet hopeful, story of a mother and daughter struggling to be a family without the one person who holds them together—a perfect summer read for fans of Jojo Moyes and Marisa de los Santos.

Alexis Gold knows how to put the “work” in working mom. It’s the “mom” part that she’s been struggling with lately. Since opening her own advertising agency three years ago, Alexis has all but given up on finding a good work/life balance. Instead, she’s handed over the household reins to her supportive, loving partner, Tommy. While he’s quick to say they divide and conquer, Alexis knows that Tommy does most of the heavy lifting—especially when it comes to their teenage daughter, CeCe.

Their world changes in an instant when Tommy receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Alexis realizes everything she’s worked relentlessly for doesn’t matter without him. So Alexis does what Tommy has done for her almost every day since they were twelve-year-old kids in Destin, Florida—she puts him first. And when the only thing Tommy wants is to spend one last summer together at “their” beach, she puts her career on hold to make it happen…even if it means putting her family within striking distance of Tommy’s ex, an actress CeCe idolizes.

But Alexis and Tommy aren’t the only ones whose lives have been turned inside out. In addition to dealing with the normal ups and downs that come with being a teenager, CeCe is also forced to confront her feelings about Tommy’s illness—and what will happen when the one person who’s always been there for her is gone. When the magic of first love brings a bright spot to her summer, CeCe is determined not to let her mother ruin that for her, too.

As CeCe’s behavior becomes more rebellious, Alexis realizes the only thing harder for her than losing Tommy will be convincing CeCe to give her one more chance.

You and Me and Us is a beautifully written novel that examines the unexpected ways loss teaches us how to love.

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