Thursday Notes: #13
The Struggle Is Real
I am writing again! Actual fiction!
…but wait, you say: Didn’t you cheerfully announce this a week or two ago?
Uh, yeah. And it was true then! But, in the way of such things, it didn’t continue.
I moved forward on my current project, then stalled out again, then picked it up, then stalled again…lather, rinse, repeat.
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It’s not that I’m not into the project. I am, and it feels great when the words start flowing. And there’s no better way to get the words flowing than to just…do it. Sit down and write, and write some more, and do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next day… I KNOW all this. We ALL know all this. And yet…
There just keeps being umpty-jillion other things to do. Things that are important, and, I know, things that just insist on getting done. That had been put off forever. I had to repot some orchids. We got our flu shots today, which turned into a dozen errands in town covering two hours. I had to make pesto, and shrub, and jam, and ice cream. I’ve had a lot of freelance work (YAY, never complaining about that). And–
Look! The forest is trying to invade the hood of the car, I must go deal with that at once!
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I can’t really untangle the must-be-done-now from the don’t-wanna-write. And honestly? I don’t know how hard I really want to push myself on this. Not only am I dealing with the loss of Mom, but both Mark and I are dealing with the prolonged stress and dislocation of the last year-plus. Maybe it’s okay to be a bit gentle with ourselves? Maybe the creative flow will burble back up of its own accord–just like it has every other time in my whole life?
It could happen.
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Anyway, I hope to come to you next week and tell you that I have finished the first draft of this thing I’ve been poking at forever. I may or may not ever tell you what it is; it’s something experimental, and I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere. I do know that I’ve signed up for the National Novel Writing Month, and committed to begin drafting Orcas Investigation–the Chameleon Chronicles book 3–on November 1. So! There’s my deadline. I must have Project X done before I start the next book.
Wish me luck. I love NaNoWriMo, I’ve “won” it a number of times in the past, and met so many great writer-friends in the process. YAY NaNo!
My 2006 winner’s gif, for Eel River.