Drawing from the Well
Queries Sent: 0
Total Queries: 31
Rejections: 8
Scenes Mapped: 0
Total Scenes: 299
Yesterday was a busy work day and last night was movie night with a close buddy so no writing or querying got done. That’s okay, though. I’ll get a little done today. Gotta counteract ANOTHER rejection. Yeah, I know it’s only eight, but I would be greatly encouraged if I got at least a partial manuscript request. It’ll come soon.
Filling the Well
Bloodwitch: 27%
The Raven Boys: 69%
I did get some reading in today so that was nice. Bloodwitch is still setting up, but it’s building on the momentum from Windwitch so it’s holding my interest. I’m curious where it’s going to go.
Polishing the Well
I had the lovely opportunity to have a guys movie night last night. We watched Return of the Jedi as part of our marathon catch-ups. As always, it was great. Loved it, even if it was the special editions (which are anything but special). Don’t @ me.
Well Chat
Avoid Hitting Bottom
[When] your story no longer stimulates you, excites you…. There can be all sorts of reasons. But one of the most common is that you’ve drawn too much from the well without refilling. The well, of course, is your own head. Your brain. Your consciousness. Your imagination. You’ve drained it of things that interest and intrigue you. Or, to put it another way, you’ve used the same story elements too often: the same ideas, the same settings, the same twists and compilations, the same characters.
Dwight V. Swain
The “well” analogy is close to my heart as you know if you’ve followed my blog for more than a day. I picked it up from one of my personal hero authors, V.E. Schwab, and it has always resonated with me because when I write, it feels like pulling something out of my soul (in a good way). So filling and drawing from the well is familiar to me.
But what happens when the well goes dry?
If you draw too much or use the same story elements too much, you’re going to run out of water in your well. There’s only so much you can produce without pouring back into yourself before you run out of material. As a writer, it’s vitally important to write. Some would say every day, but you have to take care of yourself too.
It’s like caring for others. It’s important and noble to take care of the people you care about, but at some point you have to take care of yourself or you’re going to run out of steam. And then who can you help? Nobody.
As much as you might get out of writing and feeling accomplished from achieving minor milestones, sometimes you have to stop writing to recharge your batteries. You have to take time for hobbies or just plain fun to get away from the stress, yes stress, of writing. You have to enjoy the life you’re working so hard to create otherwise it becomes pointless.
Additionally, when you hit the bottom of the well, you HAVE to stop and not just for a short period of time. Refilling a well takes time. So if you go until you hit bottom, you’re not just going to have to stop writing, you’re going to stop for a while. The danger here is loss of momentum. So even when you do feel primed to start writing again, you’re going to have accumulated rust on the gears. It’s going to take even more time to get going again. So you’re going to lose more and more time trying to get back to where you were.
So the danger of emptying the well is gads of time lost. So make sure you’re taking time regularly (preferably every day) to feed into what brings you joy outside of writing. Your writing will be better for it.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG