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
There's nothing wrong with taking a break though, sometimes the inspiration isn't there.
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!
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!