Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 6
Total Scenes: 144
This Eighth is quickly becoming a slog. Yes, I’m in the beginning of the dreaded “muddle” and it is living up to its name, at least on my part. I think this is largely in part to the fact that I am trying to AVOID it being a muddle on the page and rather being part of the ramp up to the next big moment: the Midpoint. Either way, Meibor continues to offer nothing but consternation. Just when I thought I was done with him in one section, I checked my notes (because he wouldn’t leave me alone about having forgotten something) and found I had forgotten something. 4 scenes later, it’s in. I’m happy for it. It’s a great portion that is going to help feed into this book’s climax, but dang if this isn’t harder than I expected.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 1%
Sightwitch: 22%
Jessica Jones: S2E8 of 13
Yeah, again didn’t make much progress. Catching up from my trip sapped all my “consumption time” during which I listen to audiobooks or watch shows with one eye. I did get a little reading in on Sightwitch; looking forward to seeing how that’ll play out.
Polishing the Well
This is a more extreme re-enactment of my living room right now. My son had a sleepover last night as part of his birthday celebration. As I write this pre-dawn, they’re still passed out. Who knows how late they were up. Happy Birthday, bubba.
Well Chat
Controlling S.O.S. to stay on task
No, not Save Our Souls. I’m talking about an S.O.S. that is far more dangerous to writers of all kinds: Shiny Object Syndrome.
This is the new thing that your brain wants to jump on and follow down a rabbit hole to figure out what it’s about. It’s the new thing you want to discover, design, and learn about casually. This is especially true, relevant, and dangerous when you’re deep in a book and working through the hard parts. A shiny object will pop up distracting you from the hard work even though if you followed the shiny object too far, you’d land in the same spot.
So if you’ve endeavored and determined that you’re going to conquer Shiny Object Syndrome (sometimes called BRIGHT Shiny Object Syndrome, but not by me), how do you do it?
Ride the wave.
There are a ton of articles about avoiding S.O.S. but this is not one of them. I don’t advocate avoiding it. That’s like avoiding your favorite treat. Your brain is addicted to it (yes, the treat AND the shiny object). We’re built to home in on those things. It’s part of what gives us a competitive advantage in nature. I advocate harnessing, redirecting, and releasing that urge.
What I do whenever I encounter a new Shiny –
Sorry. See, it happens to me too.
When I encounter a new Shiny, I let my brain follow it for A FEW MINUTES. Oftentimes my shinies are cool ideas. So I develop for just a few minutes to see if it’s a story I want to chase another time. Then I open up a blank Notepad document, jot down what I thought up including all the idea fragments, and save it. I create a folder with either a potential book/series name or just a “Project” title, and drop the doc in there. I throw in one my blank planning templates as well for whenever I come back to it and then I GET BACK TO WORK!!
I’ve had great success with this and come up with a lot of fun ideas. Some will inevitably never pan out while others are combined to form a new idea. The important thing is that I got back to work instead of falling down the Wonderland vortex that shinies can create. Additionally, I scratched the itch the new idea created when it popped in my head. I got to create and dream a little and now I’m energized to get back to work.
So when a shiny jumps in your face, let it, but just for a few minutes. Then put that shiny in a box, put the box on a shelf (call it a “home”), and get back to work. Otherwise, you’ll never FINISH anything. And the road to hell is paved with unfinished manuscripts.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG