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Monday 26 November 2012

Juggling

I'm not the type of writer who can juggle projects, and the reason for that being that when my attention is torn between so many stories I find it hard to sit down and get them finished. Naturally, when you start writing a story you want to follow it through from the beginning and right to the end. If you have more then one project, which means a variety of characters, and different plots . . . well, it's going to get confusing, isn't it? Characters might start sounding the same, which you can't have. Plots may collide and get ruined . . . Juggling isn't the best idea, or at least it isn't for me.

In saying that I am very envious of the writers who are able to juggle projects. In reading interviews and talking to these writers I have heard them say the same thing "it keeps their minds active and ideas fresh."

Envious. Envious. Envious.

I find myself on a daily basis comparing myself to other writers. I wonder why writing comes so easy to them when I go through phases where I am so stuck I want to bang my head against a wall. In these moments I often find it shocking that I have managed to complete eight books. At least the fact that I have is a sign that I will get out of these phases, eventually.

I don't know how other writers deal with dry patches, which is what I am having, because I refuse to say it is writers block. I know for a fact it isn't that. I want to write. I'm itching to, but at the current moment I find myself torn between which project I should work on. And isn't that just ridiculous? I'm torn between which of my projects to work on. You would think it would be easy, but for some reason it isn't. I suppose the fact that I am a panster, and a very bad one at that, doesn't help.

So, I thought to myself if I'm going to be torn anyway, and at the moment little to no writing has happened due to this - and the fact that I was playing catch-up, but I finally have a handle on that - why the heck shouldn't I juggle projects? Why shouldn't I do a little work on each of them each week until either one of them grabs me by the throat and demands I write, or I end up finishing a couple of stories at once. Either way I will be writing and finishing some new material, which I really want to do, because despite the fact I am finding it difficult to settle on the projects my muse is still showing me new story ideas. Great ideas that I would love to work on, but can't since I have books to write that are a priority at the moment.

My muse is a pain in the ass. Not that I'm complaining, because it is better to have ideas, write them down, and save them for later, than to never have any. It's just my typical luck that she wants to feed me when I am full.

Well, wish me luck. I have no idea if this is going to work for me, but I have to try something.

How do you cope when you have patches where you're either a) stuck with a story, b) can't write for a particular reason, or c) basically kicking yourself because compared to other authors you're rather rubbish?

2 comments:

  1. I think you were one of the people who told me I had to be true to myself when I went through the "comparing myself to other authors" phase a couple of months back :p

    Keep at it, and don't give yourself rules. Bring your word count right down to 500 a day and no more until you feel the flow coming back (Hemingway only wrote 500 words per day - he refused to write more, or so I'm told), and DO NOT compare yourself to other authors. It's the thing that none of us should do, but we all do it. We do it by default because writing is a lonely job, and often, the only way to see if we might be "doing it right" is to see what everyone else is doing. But it's a double-edged sword, because it's also not helpful in the slightest: just because *that* worked for so-and-so, doesn't mean it'll work for anyone else.

    I don't think you'll be stuck at this stage for long. And eight books??? Awesome! I didn't even know you'd completed that many - that is something to celebrate every month :) xxx

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply. I did read this ages ago.

      I don't think I will be stuck much longer. I'm just going through a personal rough patch at the moment, but I plan to give myself a good kick now we're in the new year. I have three projects I want to finish. I have 12 months to do that in. I will succeed!

      Thanks for the support, hun. I really appreciate it. :-) xxx

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