Writer Dame

Writing is a challenge

So, I had planned to get some work done on my novel this week.

Spoiler: I have not.

There are very real reasons for this – it has been a jumbled week, I had a lot of other tasks on my list, I was sick…

But I did have time and energy to write.

What I didn’t do was the very thing I advise all my clients to do.

I did not get specific about my writing plans.

‘Work on my novel’ is not a specific plan, it’s a very general one. And besides, how will I know when I’m done?

‘Write an argument between Mike and Bug about the missing key chain’ – that’s specific.

I need to get that kind of specific about my next set of writing plans.

Unfortunately, that takes some forethought and planning and my brain is not cooperating on that sort of thing at the moment.

Brains can be such jerks.

More think-y than write-y

In the last couple of days, my brain has been absolutely filled with ideas but none of them are finished cooking.

And that makes it really hard to write.

Knowing that all of these cool ideas are simmering makes all of my easily accessible thoughts feel pretty dull and/or makes me feel like I should wait until they are ready before I write.

However, I know better than to fall for that.

Experience has taught me that:

– My current ideas only feel dull in comparison to those simmering ideas because those simmering ideas feel perfect (untested things often do.)

– Waiting until my ideas are ‘ready’ often means that I won’t write at all.

So, here I am writing a post that’s kind of a placeholder but at least it reminds me that any writing I do is helpful in the long term.

August Writing Goals

I have been doing lots of little bits of writing – blog posts, flash fiction, brainstorming – but I haven’t done any longer form writing in a while and I want to get back to it.

There’s nothing wrong with the writing I have been doing but it doesn’t require a lot of focus beyond the time I spend actually writing. Right now, though, I feel drawn to do something that needs planning, outlines, revision, something tangible that feels like I have said something I really wanted to say.

So, in August, I am going to be working on my novel and on a series of blog posts for my coaching blog.

Off to make some notes!

Revisions.

I have been YEARS trying to revise my novel and it has been a struggle.

It’s not that I think my novel is perfect or that I can’t let go of the ideas in there. I don’t and I definitely can.

The problem is that I couldn’t figure out how to take it apart and reassemble it. It was almost a mechanical problem rather than a creative one.

And I’ve tried multiple approaches with minimal success.

Today, it occurred to me that it was time to get back at it.

So, there I am thinking that it had been ages since I had even touched it and dreading the painful process of trying to figure out how to revise when I had a sudden realization.

I was working on my novel in the weeks before my Dad died.

I had figured out a slow way forward.

I was making progress.

It’s not even particularly painful, just a bit slow for my liking.

And it may even speed up as I practice.

It’s odd that I had completely forgotten that it was only a couple of months since I last worked on it (and that I had forgotten that I had figured out *how* to work on it.) but I guess that’s grief showing up again.

Now my job is to get back to some regular revision sessions.

So that’s one thing on Monday’s to-do list,

Words and Pictures

Yesterday, while listening to the podcast ‘The Antique Shop,’ by Ghostly Thistle media, I had a great idea for a series of stories.

My plan is to draw a series of objects and then write a story about each one.

I started by practicing drawing bottles.

A photo of drawings and painting of a variety of bottles.
Image description: a photo of a coil-bound sketchbook with white paper featuring some rough pencil sketches of a variety of bottles on the right hand side and some drawings of bottles painted with watercolours on the left.