by Sarah Zettel, CL Anderson and Marissa Day
Turns out after 20 years of writing fiction, there’s always something new to learn. Mostly this is one of the perks of the job. Recently, for instance, I’ve been learning about both poisons and perfumes and its been fascinating, although I have wondered why my writer’s group has been less enthusiastic about the snacks at my house of late.
Unfortunately, not everything one learns is that fun. I’ve been having one of those…challenging weeks.
I always feel trivial when I complain about writing. There are people in this world with real problems, and I am not one of them. But, I do have 3 books due before October, and none of them are going well. The hero and the heroine are taking way too long to get together in the romance, the edits are late in the YA, and how the mystery fits together is still a mystery to me, despite the addition of both perfume and poison to go with the potions.
What’s really frustrating, is this is one of those times when you learn you need to be careful what you wish for. I’m one of those writers who works in a punctuated fashion. I write madly, then hit a wall, and stop for awhile, until my subconscious figures out its problem, and then I write madly again. I always figured that’d be great for a 3 name author; when I hit a wall in one book, I can just hop over and write madly on another book while the first one sorts itself out in the back of my brain.
Unfortunately, it’s turning out not to be that simple. Jumping from one project that’s not going well to another project that’s not going well does not seem to make either of them go better.
And I actually probably could have figured that out if I’d really thought about it. Sigh.
When I started this post, I thought I’d talk about the nature of this learning experience, about how it’s caused me to dig deep, call on the wells of patience and self-trust necessary in being a professional writer and all young and would-be writers should take note. But what you don’t see here is that between this para and the previous para, there’s a five minute break because my fingers and my brain refused to go there.
What it comes down to is, I’m frustrated. I’m sitting down every day with ticking deadlines somewhere in Manhattan and nobody to go all 24 on it but myself. It drives me crazy when I can’t write on command. I’m a professional. I’ve been around the block so many times I know where all the good parking spots are, and there are days I STILL can’t write well. And I procrastibake, and I read, and I go for walks, and I STILL can’t get the words in any kind of decent order on the screen.
The truly ironic part here is I don’t believe in writer’s block. No seriously, I don’t. It’s a pretentious condition that belongs to no other profession. No dentist walks into the office in the morning and says “No! I can’t drill any more!” Or maybe they do. Or maybe we just wish they would. Or maybe I’ve just lost control of this essay.
I’m going to leave the previous para in place because it is a perfect illustration of the kind of week it’s been writing-wise. The worst part is that this will happen again, and it will happen again, and when I’m in the middle of it, there’s only very cold comfort in knowing I’ve gotten out of it every other time, and I will get out of it this time. It’s still deeply, maddeningly frustrating, because I’m not getting what I need to done, I’m not keeping my promises and I have no choice but to keep trying, and keep trying and…and…and…
So, for those who read these posts to gain insight into the writing life, here it is. It’s disorganized and annoying and worrying and some days there’s just nothing to be done, except dig in and dig deep and all those other cliches.
Now, that is really frustrating.
The Paths to Camelot Omnibus by Sarah Zettel
From the Author: “I’ve loved the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table since I was little. I was a disappointed to realize that most books focused on the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot. I wanted to write some of the other stories…”
The Seduction of Miranda Prosper by Marissa Day
“ I loved that Miranda discovers her inner beauty and strength and gets 2 hunky guys!!” — “Stef” from Bookaholics Romance Book Club
Bitter Angels by C.L. Anderson
“Great edge-of-the-seat interstellar intrigue and a riveting space opera-espionage. This one was tough to put down.” — David J. Williams, Author of The Burning Skies -
Oh, sympathies. I wish I had people waiting on my books, but not when none of them are cooperating. You’ve already tried baking, and walking — a lot, I imagine. Cleaning, washing the car, reading reference books, reading books you have memorized so your subconscious can keep working…
And have you sat down and started re-reading, and asking yourself questions about the story? The old “What does this person want long-term? What do they want now? Who or what is interfering? How far will they go to get what they want?”
Is anything demanding to be written and pushing everything else out of the way? Do you need to write some silly or violent or weird short story to open up the pipes again?
Otherwise, all I can think of off the top of my head is, send me an ARC or file of the first mystery. I’ll review it and also give you comments on things I want to see more of, just to see if I say anything that your group and editor haven’t?
Always willing to be a sounding board. Hang in there! It will end — I hope soon.
I’ve been experiencing a very similar set of frustrations lately, and it has been driving me crazy. I often joke about using avoidance behavior as motivation – I get so much work done on other projects when avoiding whichever one is currently driving me crazy – but right now the deadlines are looming, my focus is shot, and I just can’t quite bring myself to believe that eating chocolate is the same as actually getting something done. So… my sympathies. My profound sympathies.
Elizabeth
Who is currently only a two name author, but has a horrible feeling there may be a third looming on the horizon. Looming is apparently the word of the day.
This is exactly where I’m at right now. . . in the middle of edits for a book that really needs rewritten but I don’t know what to do to fix it better, I sent off a book proposal under another name for a book that I only kinda want to write right now, and there’s a third book wanting to be written that I shouldn’t be writing, and a fourth that I want to write and send off to a different e-pub in the hopes of better money. -sigh- But, yeah, I project-hop under three names too and am pretty much stuck plot-wise on everything. Arrrggh.
Is it the change of seasons? Spring fever? Somebody pass the sulphur and molasses. Speaking of potions and poisons…
I’m fast approaching the muddle in the middle of WIP, the time when every phrase, every word, every comma comes after only great agony.
Dancing is my diversion of choice. It gets the blood flowing to my brain as well as my feet. After 90 minutes of stomping to some of the worst country music ever written, I often find inspiration. Sometimes I just have to fall back on the old adage “when in doubt start a brawl.” I’m toning up nicely thanks to the muddle in the middle blues. My hero is badly bruised.
I hate hate hate that “stuck” feeling. If I have something else to write, I go there first, but sometimes I do start to feel paralyzed–as if my inability to to get past a bog in one piece is spreading to all the other projects I’m working on. Condolences.
Weirdly, one of the things that sometimes works for me is to drop back a chapter and retype the whole thing. The only reason I can suggest for why it works is that while I’m soaking in the story but not editing it (or not deliberately editing it–changes creep in) my unconscious is playing with it, so I get to the stopped point and sometimes find I’m just working forward.
And sometimes I just make cake. There, I said it. It’s why I’m never going to be slender and wandlike. Pfui.
The only thing I can think of is to say: Ganbatte! You can do it! You can take your team to Koushien!
Revision’s worse than writing if you are out of sorts. You can just keep writing even thinking it’s drek, but revising requires judgment.
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Mary: This just shows how everybody’s process varies, because I always find revising easier than writing.
Mad — You look wand-like in your thoughtful writer-ly pic, if that’s any consolation!
I have found that the grass is always greener over there. If you are writing, revising is easier; if you are revising you look back fondly upon those carefree writing days of the past.
Update:
Turns out the problem was what I thought was the middle was the ending. Having now figured that out, I just have to go back and re-pace the whole rest of the book.
Oh, joy.
Oh, well. At least the words are showing up again.