Getting Back To My Writing



Well, I took a detour from my writing the past week.  The short story I’ve been working on stalled, which brought me down.  Posting on my blog every day became overwhelming and took time away from my fiction writing, bringing me down even more.  So, I turned off my main writing roadway, and had the brilliant idea to get out of the car.  My head, crowded with negative thoughts, started to hurt causing my vision to blur.  I stumbled around for a bit, before I tripped into a ditch.  My motivation to write dissipated, leaving me lying in the ditch for a bit. 

I was able to make it to my Bucks County Writers Group meeting.  I always feel reinvigorated and motived to write after our meetings.  One of the members suggested I put the short story aside for a while and work on something else.  Clearly I wasn't getting anywhere trying to force the story.  A simple solution I should have come up with myself, but my perfectionist drive doesn’t always see things that way.  Then, my motivation started to return, giving me the strength to crawl out of the ditch and climb back into the car.  

I’m happy to report I’m back on the main writing roadway.  Go Team!  (I hope I didn't confuse you too much with my driving allegory.)   

While I was gone, several more people started to follow me.  Welcome!   After taking some time to figure out my new blogging schedule, I decided on twice a week with a showcase post on Fridays.  This new schedule gives my readers a chance to read and comment on my posts and allows me time to focus on my own writing.  I will also have time to read and comment on the blogs I follow. 

Tuesdays will remain News, Contests and Fun.  Thursdays I’m going to share thoughts on my experience or advice I’ve learned along the way.  Fridays will be a freebie day for me.  Instead of writing it myself, I am going to showcase poetry, a passage, a quote, novel, etc. I particularly liked and felt inspired by.

With all this free time and the short story away, I pulled out my NaNoWriMo novel.  An enormous task lies ahead of me with revisions, but ideas are running through my mind daily.  I’m excited to get started on polishing this mystery novel for querying. 


What writing projects are you working on?  

Comments

Matthew MacNish said…
Still working on the same novel. It's been a while now, but I'm okay with it.

There's nothing wrong with taking a break though, sometimes the inspiration isn't there.
March 17, 2011 at 7:52 AM
Alex Villasante said…
Hey Laura, glad to hear you're back on the road! Ditches are nasty places to be lying in and they tend to fill with water.

As you know, I'm working on revising the soft squishy middle bit of BookEnd. It's a tough slog, but I'm hoping it will provide the strength to get me past the end.

When I think that BookEnd came out of NaNoWrimo, and that I decided to do Nano because the other book I'd been writing stalled, its amazing to think that another creation can come out of frustration. You really do have to keep going, and a detour is not a stoppage, it's just another direction! Good luck!
March 17, 2011 at 9:01 AM
Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said…
I know you have a writer group but you can always hit me up on an email or something if you get stuck somewhere in your writing. I dunno if I'll be able to offer anything fresh but I may have a new perspective that can clear a roadblock here or there. I admire your tenacity. I haven't written on any manuscript since January. Instead, I just blog and watch television and go work out at the gym so I can wear nice summer clothes. I love writing, but sometimes the pointlessness of it gets to me and I take big breaks from it.
March 17, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Andrea said…
I meant to post this last week but I guess I got a little derailed myself!

I tried (briefly) to live up to advice that said I needed to blog daily to build a following. I found that was waaaay too much, so I pared it down to three times a week. Sometimes even that is challenging. Besides, I have trouble keeping up with daily posts on all the blogs I follow; why should I expect people to set aside time for my thoughts every day? A couple times a week seems much more reasonable.

As for the other...my writing is due for another major priority-check. I've had a novel lying dormant since last August, and it continues to nag at me. I think I've figured out the problem, though, so maybe it's time I get back on that particular road. Thanks for sharing!
March 22, 2011 at 2:29 PM
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