Wednesday, August 21, 2013

No August Novel, I Think

I think I am canceling the challenge I posted at the end of July. But I can say that the way the month has shaped up has made me cast out the plan I laid out in the previous post. I was going to say I crashed and burned on this whole thing. Maybe I still will. No book has been written so far. Many starts but nothing that got past the first few pages before fizzling out epically. I don't know what more I have to say about the novel I intended to write other than I really wanted to get something together.

I have stories that will be published soon, short stories and a novel that has been waiting to see publication all summer. I've been contemplating a full break from writing lately. It might have to do with the impending arrival of my new son, but there's more going on. Frankly, I'm just not getting back into the fun of it yet. Life continually intervenes and turns my attention elsewhere.

I have these writerly expectations that I'm continually failing to meet and I think they should be the first thing to go before I can get back on a good writing track. More than these expectations, I have personal ones that are influencing my thoughts.

Sometimes being a creative type can be a curse because you can sink too deeply into introspection. All of it can derail what you've been planning and no amount of evaluation can seem to break through and get you rolling.

It's a rough patch, I would say. One I'm working through very slowly. In fact, it might be a matter of cutting out some mental chatter. I'll get to work on that right now and with luck, I'll have more upbeat things to say about being a writer again.

If you are reading this and you are a writer dealing with something similar remember you're not alone. We all go through such things from time to time. Hang in. You'll get back to writing again.

It's late in August now and I'm probably calling the whole thing quits but one never knows. There's still time. A little optimism sounds nice right now.

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