I had an awesome day yesterday! Why, you ask. Well, I wrote. I not only wrote, but I wrote 10 pages. Pages that seemed to flow from my brain straight to the fingertips and onto the paper. Man, it felt good.
These past few months – six months, if I'm honest – I have struggled to put words on paper. A few pages here, a few pages there. It just wasn't working. So yesterday's 10 pages were a blessing.
I'm beginning to think the problem is the project I was working on. For some reason, that book hasn't flowed from the beginning. Though I think what I've gotten on paper is good, getting it out has been like pulling a stubborn cow along with a rope. Very little progress. Maybe a step or two here or there. If you show it a little corn, then you might progress until the food runs out. Not fun.
I'm not sure what to do about that. I feel like I should finish it, but at the moment I'm just glad to be writing anything. I'm finally starting to feel sane again. :) Though I'll continue with this new project, I feel a little guilty as I imagine my book and its characters waiting on me to try once more. That just makes me want to avoid it.
Sigh.... What do you do when your work won't cooperate?
Angel
Don't forget to join us tomorrow when Kerrelyn Sparks, author of the Love at Stake paranormal series, joins us in the Sandbox! And pop over to Cheryl St. John's blog where the Playground Monitor is visiting today. The link is listed below.
8 comments:
Hey, babe, could you channel some of that my way? I'd be most appreciative. ;)
I get on the blog and complain about it. Sigh...some parts of my book flow, some don't. To force myself to get through the middle, I took a page from Kira's book, so to speak and I write out of order. If the scene I need to write won't come, I try to think about what scene will...what can I see and hear...then I skip to that one. Usually that fires me up enough that I can go back and fill in the part I skipped.
That's great news, Angel. Let the stubborn cow sit there for a little while. Maybe it'll come around.
I will skip ahead and write out of sequence if I'm stuck. It doesn't always work, but sometimes I write STUFF HAPPENS and then start a new scene. :) Hopefully, I then figure out what happened and can go back and fill it in. :)
I've also started working on new projects in the hope it'll jump start the old. I don't always like doing that, because the seduction of the new story can be strong, but sometimes it really helps.
Congrats on your 10 pages!!!
Congrats on your 10 pages! That's just awesome.
What do I do when my work won't cooperate? Lately I've been cleaning out closets and cabinets and sorting through boxes of stuff we brought back when we cleaned out my mother-in-law's house 3 years ago. I actually polished a silver tea service the other afternoon rather than sit at the keyboard.
I know what you mean about finishing things. I hate unfinished stuff. I have 3 short stories in various stages of completion and want to "git er done" so to speak. And we won't mention the novel...
PM
And the DH is home sick today so it's unlikely I'll get any writing done today. *sigh*
You can come polish my silver, PM. :-)
Congratulations on getting so much done, Angel! Hold onto that feeling. Let it be your inspiration the next time you sit to write.
When I'm stuck, I usually watch movies. I'll make note of plot points, examine how the story is put together, pinpoint flaws and such, then try to apply what I've learned. Most times something will cue me into what I'm missing.
Congratulations on the pages, Angel!
I clean the bathroom :-D DH loves it when I get stuck.
And you've been sick lately so cut yourself some slack over those 6 months. You're back at it now and that's all that matters.
Instigator
I've learned that just because the writing process doesn't "feel good,", meaning my life is crazy or I'm dealing with an emotional stress, my talent doesn't up and desert me. I still know the rules. I still have the techniques. If I apply myself to the task and write through the difficulties, I can look back later and recognize that what I did was surprisingly good.
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