Keepin On
So there are times when in my writing life - I. Am. Just. Not. Feeling. It. I want to put the book I’m supposed to be working on down and pick up something else. It’s the lure of the shiny and I’m like a human magpie, I LOVE the shiny. But in all but the rarest of cases, I need to just keep on keepin on.
So here I was - I don’t know my characters yet. The story seems just beyond my reach. I don’t feel connected at all and each word is work. Like, I have to clean the bathroom work. I’ve been there with this most recent WIP for the last three weeks or so and the flu didn’t add anything positive to the experience either. I’ve been writing, but it’s slower than normal. I read it back later and I’m happy with it, but I don’t feel connected to any of it.
This happens to me from time to time. Sometimes I’m into the story from word one. I can’t wait to sit down to write every night. I just know who these people are and what motivates them and most importantly, what attracts them to the other person. This story has not been that way!
But you know, I have deadlines and I have to meet them and cripes, how dare I whine about it? I mean, this is my freaking dream job! So I do it and when I shut the computer down every night I hope the next day will be the one when I click. When the story finally reveals itself to me and I *get* it.
Two nights ago, it happened. *Heaves sigh of relief* I opened the file and I’d been thinking on what was missing from the story and went back to add a scene and suddenly it just worked. My words came unstuck and my normal rate of production slid into place. I knew my heroine, I understood my hero and I saw my story the way it needed to be.
I re-read the whole thing yesterday morning and it works. Thank goodness. It actually follows a story and it’s believable and I love it.
The thing is, that could not have happened if I’d given in to the shiny of this other project I get to work on next. If I’d laid it down, I wouldn’t have picked it back up again for some time and maybe not have finished it at all. But I kept going, opened the file every day and worked to finish just even a bit more. Step by step and it’s now nearly done! If you don’t keep on keepin on when the story gets sticky, you can’t have that moment of clarity. So here’s to keepin on! Here’s to “the end” and here’s to clarity!
March 8th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Great post, Lauren, and very encouraging.
I’m starting to have that experience, my first (as yet unpublished) was a breeze to write compared to this one, but I finally think that this one will get finished. I’ve topped 85k and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!
March 9th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I think the first 20-30k of a novel is often a sort of honeymoon period for me. I usually know enough to get through that much quickly with a modicum of problems. It’s the Dreaded Slump–the Middle Ground when the new starts appealing and I start thinking “ooooo shiny!” I had years of giving in to the Ooo shiny! before I finally buckled down and made myself work through and finish. But the finishing was even more gratifying than the honeymoon period, so I think it was enough to break me of the habit!
March 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Ann - excellent news! The end is ner.
Kathleen - So totally true! The dreaded middle, ugh. And yep, finishing is so much more fun than giving in to the shiny.