Posted on July
19, 2012 by
Lightcudder
The best laid plans of mice and men….. as they say. Two completed stories to work on over the holidays in order to get them up to an acceptable standard. And that is on top of everything
else! You could plead that you are too busy, which you are, but if you want to be taken seriously as a writer, than you have to write. It will not be easy ( I know you hate starting again with a story) but you have enough ‘minor’ stories on the go to be able to turn to them for some relaxation when things get difficult.
And that is the point isn’t it? Things DO get difficult, and this is a process, just like painting or embroidery, or remodelling a house. It won’t always be easy. Sometimes it is heartbreakingly difficult and you feel that it is too hard to go on, that the delight is no longer there, that your inspiration has gone forever. But you know it hasn’t. It’s simply sitting back, laughing at you with that annoying snigger it sometimes gets, and waiting for you to realise that … damn it, this IS what you want to do, so stop the bloody moaning and get on.
If you can still put your fingers on the keyboard, if you can still look back and remember the utter pleasure if writing that story – you know, THAT one - if your mind goes…. OH! Plot bunny! at the most inconvenient times, then it will come. It hasn’t deserted you, it’s telling you, in the nicest possible way that now you have to work even harder. It doesn’t get any easier you know. In fact it gets more difficult. But don’t let that put you off.
Don’t let anything put you off. Just look back and see how far you have come.
Oh there are times when it seems impossible, and it is so tempting to say, “Sod it, this is no longer any fun.” Hang on in there. Keep writing; whether a drabble, or a poem, a twenty page staff handbook (don’t ask!)or a sharp satire in the Vengeance Saga. Don’t look at the clock, or the word count, or the internet. Lock the doors, disconnect the phone, put the cat outside. Sit down.
TYPE. Write MORE. Write harder. Whatever it is, write it. You can edit it later, just get the words down. And enjoy it.