You often touch on a lot of what I'm feeling! I think another part of it for me is the comparison, too. The quote that said writing is hard? It's so tough for me to find the plot and the exact right thing I want to say, and it takes me longer now that I'm also teaching and doing so much video (and on book 12 of a series). But to see so many writers who can write 10+ books a year makes me really frustrated with myself. Particularly since the market doesn't exactly reward indie authors who are slow.
I don't want to rush my own process, but I also don't want to keep watching my sales slip. So I do nothing and it gets worse. Like you said, though, I need it. I hurt without it.
I was actually just telling George that as soon as this course is over, I'm putting myself in creative rehab, so this post and the book recommendation from last time is good timing!! I think I just need to find my way back to the joy. Something I've needed to do at least twice now in this 13 year career.
Yes, when I watch your videos lately, I'm like YES, THAT. So I think we're definitely going through similar emotions and frustrations. I had to let go of the comparison thing with fast writers because I'm truly not capable of writing that many books a year. (Becca's Strengthsfinder classes helped with that. I have high Intellection, which means I need to think a lot and for a long time when writing. Writing three a year would be a stretch for me.) But I still get frustrated that lately I can't even write the amount that I used to. And for what it's worth, you amaze me with how much you juggle with your classes and channel and such, so the fact that you would squeeze in any writing with all that going on is impressive.
As for creative recovery, I think we're all so in need of it--at least those of us who have been doing this for a certain number of years. I'm brainstorming a class about it because I usually learn best for myself when I'm learning things to teach others. :) Maybe we can learn our way through this, feel creatively renewed, and then teach the class together, lol.
Oh, the thoughts of quitting.... It took so much out of me to power through my last contracted series I can't help wondering if an idea can hold me for a whole book. I get what you mean about the itch, though. Sometimes I wonder if that's merely my need to achieve something, anything, or if I am truly ready to dive back in. At the moment, I'm allowing myself to dabble. I write when I feel like the words will come. I let the story run free in my head and try to be open to new directions it might take. The fact that it's still there, beating inside of me like a drum, give me hope.
I hear ya. I haven't written fiction in a few months now and I don't feel the urge yet. Mainly, I don't have an idea that excites me right now. However, I'm journaling, I started this newsletter, I'm reading like crazy and taking notes (though I've only read two romances since October so my reading mood is taking me different places.) I'm watching great movies/tv and pondering the storytelling devices used. So I feel like that's all the border collie, running around and hunting for new toys or bones. And I'm okay with that right now. It's an improvement from the burnout state of not having energy to do anything at all.
What a great analogy. Loved this post. I totally have Border Collie Brain right now. It's nice to have a label for it. (I understand things better that way.) I appreciate these posts and your newsletter, too. There is always something there that I seem to need to hear and/ or read. Thank you!
I swear you’re in my head. Once again, so relatable! It also reminded me of something Becca Syme said recently about trying to find the joy in writing again. Like you said: it helped when I didn’t feel like I fit in. It was my escape and my happy place. And I haven’t felt that way about writing in a long time.
Although you haven't offered a solid answer, I did manage to tease one out of this wonderful post: to try to write without purpose for a while. I used to write flash fiction all the time, just for fun, to explore new directions, and as a mini break from my WIP. It was for no purpose but my own enjoyment, or perhaps to sometimes share with friends. And I LOVED it. I have hundreds of short pieces, many of which I'd like to one day expand into something more.
I completely identify with the unsettled feeling of not creating. Ideas and inspiration are constantly knocking around in my head. It's only the thought of having to actually try to market any of them (you know, after I write something) that has me trying to ignore the impulses, because, yeah, I'm SO TIRED. But I would like to write these books. So... maybe I should just... write one? For no other reason than... I want to write it.
That is 100% what Good Girl Fail started as for me. It was a "just for me, just for fun" project I'd go to in between my contracted stuff over like a two year span. The lack of pressure was really nice. Only when I I decided about 70% of the way in that I was going to publish it did it start to feel like there was some pressure around it. (And then I got stuck, of course, lol, and it took a while to finish it.)
So yeah, I think that's a solid method--writing without purpose for a break. I'm totally open to that right now as well. Part of me has the urge to experiment with my writing and I think keeping it no pressure is going to be important. Hope you can find some just for fun writing!
I'm glad the post helped. And it sounds like you've hit a stuck point in your book, which is normal. I hit one (at least one, lol) with every book. A lot of times, it would help me just to start from the start of it and read it through, sometimes many times, so that I could find where I took a wrong turn. Usually those stuck feelings were my brain telling me I'd made a misstep somewhere and blocked the natural trajectory of the story (like I relieved the tension too early and then didn't ramp it back up or had a character acting in a way that didn't line up with who I'd written them to be.) Getting blocked was my internal alarm going off, but unfortunately it's a general alarm and not a specific one. It says SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT but then when you ask what that is, it's like, uhhh, I dunno, but it's definitely something. :) Hope you bust through the block soon!
You often touch on a lot of what I'm feeling! I think another part of it for me is the comparison, too. The quote that said writing is hard? It's so tough for me to find the plot and the exact right thing I want to say, and it takes me longer now that I'm also teaching and doing so much video (and on book 12 of a series). But to see so many writers who can write 10+ books a year makes me really frustrated with myself. Particularly since the market doesn't exactly reward indie authors who are slow.
I don't want to rush my own process, but I also don't want to keep watching my sales slip. So I do nothing and it gets worse. Like you said, though, I need it. I hurt without it.
I was actually just telling George that as soon as this course is over, I'm putting myself in creative rehab, so this post and the book recommendation from last time is good timing!! I think I just need to find my way back to the joy. Something I've needed to do at least twice now in this 13 year career.
Yes, when I watch your videos lately, I'm like YES, THAT. So I think we're definitely going through similar emotions and frustrations. I had to let go of the comparison thing with fast writers because I'm truly not capable of writing that many books a year. (Becca's Strengthsfinder classes helped with that. I have high Intellection, which means I need to think a lot and for a long time when writing. Writing three a year would be a stretch for me.) But I still get frustrated that lately I can't even write the amount that I used to. And for what it's worth, you amaze me with how much you juggle with your classes and channel and such, so the fact that you would squeeze in any writing with all that going on is impressive.
As for creative recovery, I think we're all so in need of it--at least those of us who have been doing this for a certain number of years. I'm brainstorming a class about it because I usually learn best for myself when I'm learning things to teach others. :) Maybe we can learn our way through this, feel creatively renewed, and then teach the class together, lol.
Oh, the thoughts of quitting.... It took so much out of me to power through my last contracted series I can't help wondering if an idea can hold me for a whole book. I get what you mean about the itch, though. Sometimes I wonder if that's merely my need to achieve something, anything, or if I am truly ready to dive back in. At the moment, I'm allowing myself to dabble. I write when I feel like the words will come. I let the story run free in my head and try to be open to new directions it might take. The fact that it's still there, beating inside of me like a drum, give me hope.
I hear ya. I haven't written fiction in a few months now and I don't feel the urge yet. Mainly, I don't have an idea that excites me right now. However, I'm journaling, I started this newsletter, I'm reading like crazy and taking notes (though I've only read two romances since October so my reading mood is taking me different places.) I'm watching great movies/tv and pondering the storytelling devices used. So I feel like that's all the border collie, running around and hunting for new toys or bones. And I'm okay with that right now. It's an improvement from the burnout state of not having energy to do anything at all.
What a great analogy. Loved this post. I totally have Border Collie Brain right now. It's nice to have a label for it. (I understand things better that way.) I appreciate these posts and your newsletter, too. There is always something there that I seem to need to hear and/ or read. Thank you!
Thanks, Stacy! Glad you're finding it helpful. And isn't that a great analogy? Elizabeth Gilbert is so good at describing creativity.
I swear you’re in my head. Once again, so relatable! It also reminded me of something Becca Syme said recently about trying to find the joy in writing again. Like you said: it helped when I didn’t feel like I fit in. It was my escape and my happy place. And I haven’t felt that way about writing in a long time.
I'm sorry you haven't felt that way in a long time either. Hopefully all of us can find a way back into the joy.
Although you haven't offered a solid answer, I did manage to tease one out of this wonderful post: to try to write without purpose for a while. I used to write flash fiction all the time, just for fun, to explore new directions, and as a mini break from my WIP. It was for no purpose but my own enjoyment, or perhaps to sometimes share with friends. And I LOVED it. I have hundreds of short pieces, many of which I'd like to one day expand into something more.
I completely identify with the unsettled feeling of not creating. Ideas and inspiration are constantly knocking around in my head. It's only the thought of having to actually try to market any of them (you know, after I write something) that has me trying to ignore the impulses, because, yeah, I'm SO TIRED. But I would like to write these books. So... maybe I should just... write one? For no other reason than... I want to write it.
That is 100% what Good Girl Fail started as for me. It was a "just for me, just for fun" project I'd go to in between my contracted stuff over like a two year span. The lack of pressure was really nice. Only when I I decided about 70% of the way in that I was going to publish it did it start to feel like there was some pressure around it. (And then I got stuck, of course, lol, and it took a while to finish it.)
So yeah, I think that's a solid method--writing without purpose for a break. I'm totally open to that right now as well. Part of me has the urge to experiment with my writing and I think keeping it no pressure is going to be important. Hope you can find some just for fun writing!
I'm glad the post helped. And it sounds like you've hit a stuck point in your book, which is normal. I hit one (at least one, lol) with every book. A lot of times, it would help me just to start from the start of it and read it through, sometimes many times, so that I could find where I took a wrong turn. Usually those stuck feelings were my brain telling me I'd made a misstep somewhere and blocked the natural trajectory of the story (like I relieved the tension too early and then didn't ramp it back up or had a character acting in a way that didn't line up with who I'd written them to be.) Getting blocked was my internal alarm going off, but unfortunately it's a general alarm and not a specific one. It says SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT but then when you ask what that is, it's like, uhhh, I dunno, but it's definitely something. :) Hope you bust through the block soon!