I have a confession to make.
I have not been writing very much this past month or so.
Sure I’d get some work done, but it was difficult. Even as I approached a cool scene that I was *Really* looking forward to, when the time came, I just…couldn’t.
And I felt bad about that.
Spoiler alert: Feeling bad, didn’t actually help out in any damned way.
But I kept telling myself that I’d get there – wherever the Hell “There” was…
I still don’t know.
But, as I draft this on Saturday Night with Unleash the Archers rocking my eardrums through a good set of noise-cancelling earbuds, I am nearing the end of my 4th consecutive 1000+ word writing days.
Sidebar: If you haven’t given “Abyss” a listen, you should do yourself a favor and check out the releases here.
Sidebar – 2: I don’t know the model, but the earbuds are a wired pair from Phillips, that *Completely* smothered a game of Cards Against Humanity taking place at the SAME TABLE I was working at. No, I’m not being sponsored by them but, If you’re reading this, Phillips, you can get a hold of me on the About page. I’ll happily sing your praises.
Maybe it was the election. Maybe it was the ease off of the stress. Maybe it was the ease off of the anxiety Or maybe it was me starting a five-day weekend.
Likely it was a combination of all of the above *AND* that I’d done what I could for as long as I could, and then relaxed. Sure, there might have been a bit of self-recrimination going on in the wee hours of the night, but the self-care took place, even if I wasn’t completely aware of doing it.
But here we are. If I’m successful – and there’s no reason to think that I won’t be, I’m looking forward to getting back into the story tomorrow – I’ll have written over 5ooo words in five days.
Damn that feels good.
And if I could do one thing, I’d look at how I managed to get back on track and detail the exact steps for you.
But there’s the thing.
I can’t. I have no idea how it happened. I suspect that it was a combination of self-care and not giving up – though I was only really aware of the “Not giving up” part.
The self care part felt (at the time) that I was being lazy – and if I could do one other thing it would be to dispel the myth of the suffering artist.
I don’t believe that I can do that (entirely) either.
What I can do is encourage you to take the time you need. To reach out to other folks if you need to – which is something that I could have/should have done, but didn’t and I’ve got no doubt that would have shortened the time it took to course correct – or at least made me feel better while it was happening.
I can also encourage you to not give up. It’s been rough. It’s still rough – I know that. But as long as you do what you can do for as long as you can do it (Which nobody, with any amount of effort, can surpass), you’ll get to a better place.
Thanks for reading.
Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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