Drawing from the Well
Queries Sent: 1
Total Queries: 6
Scenes Arranged: 0
Total Scenes: 210
Two zero-scene days in a row? Unacceptable. We’ll be correcting that today.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 89%
Elegy: Page 37 of 89
I finally took some time earlier this morning to read. It was lovely. I miss it. I have to make sure I’m carving out more time to feed into myself that way. Audiobooks are great for absorbing story, but seeing the words arranged on the page gives you the story AND the form/craft behind it. As an author, that’s vitally important. Remember that.
Polishing the Well
Last night I took my kids and my daughter’s best friend to pizza and games before a sleepover. It was a really great night. And then I knocked out early after a stressful week. It feels good to get back to a sense of inner peace and normalcy.
Well Chat
Keep Going When You Want to Stop
Writing is an arduous journey fraught with failure, rejection, and doubt. If it isn’t in you to do it, to truly see it to completion, you won’t. Those of us that do (of which I’m still trying to feel like I’ve fully joined that club) do it because we HAVE to. It’s like gymnasts or race car drivers: they are compelled to chase their dream. So too with authors.
That doesn’t mean that the compulsion is ever-overwhelming and all we have to do is succumb to it. Hardly. We get overwhelmed by those other feelings too. Despair. Doubt. Helplessness. Sorrow. Hopelessness. We have moments where we want to write, where there are ideas and scenes in our heads and hearts that we want to put on the page, but just can’t bring ourselves to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.
How do you overcome it?
It’s all about positive self-talk. Everyone is different, but I’ll get vulnerable and put a few of my methods out there. The first thing is to look at what you’ve accomplished so far. How much have you written? How much have you planned out on paper or in your head? How clever is your premise? Celebrate it even if it feels like the smallest kernel of unappreciable accomplishment. Give yourself a break. You’re a creator and that’s a beautiful thing.
The next is to remember the last draught you had, no matter the length. Moreover, it’s important to remember that the last draught you had ENDED which means this one will as well. Writer’s block (whichever kind) or life getting in the way or general malaise happens. It will pass. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but it WILL pass.
Lastly, do some self-coaching. It sounds silly, but pumping yourself up by telling yourself that you can do this (and you’re the ONLY one that can do this) can help. Tell yourself your great. Sing your other accolades to yourself. Remind yourself that this is what you’re CALLED to do, what you were MADE to do.
And if none of that works, have a drink and a snack and get back to it. Sometimes you have to wrangle your muse into a stranglehold to get them to perform. Remember, your muse shows up whenever they damn well feel like it, but it only counts if you’re there. Show up regularly even when you don’t feel like writing and when the calling hits you, you’ll be present and primed because you didn’t let the gears rust. Keep at it. You’ve got this.
In other news, I’m researching a new series on alternative story structures thanks to Susan Dennard. If you’re a writer and you haven’t subscribed to her newsletter, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Her tips are invaluable and her transparency into the real things she goes through is encouraging. It’s so nice to see an author be real; it reminds me that I, a real person, can be just as successful as she has been.
Oh yeah! That’s another method: look at others around you that are finding success in what they are doing and strive to find the same success. If one person is finding joy in chasing their dream, that means you can too. My wife is my daily inspiration as I watch her kick butt as a wedding planner. It drives me to do my best as a writer.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG