When Writing Isn’t Fun Anymore
As a writer, I periodically hit this point. My Serious Novel work-in-progress feels too hard. (It may or may not have anything to do with where I am in the novel. Some parts of writing a novel just suck–even Neil Gaiman says so. But sometimes that’s not the problem.) Editing one of the short story drafts I have floating around feels too daunting. And starting a new novel? Forget it. I can drift along for months without writing anything. A couple of years ago, I even announced that I was quitting altogether. (It…didn’t stick.) Sooner or later I give myself a shake and go looking for the fun parts of writing–the parts I used to know about when I was a teenager, but somehow get harder and harder to find the more I learn. One year, I got out of this slump by writing Firefly fanfiction. Another year, I started plotting a contra dance–themed cozy mystery. Two years ago, I challenged myself to write the smallest possible thing every day–it led to a lot of haikus and then, eventually, flash fiction. (Which led to me placing third in a flash fiction contest and then getting to help judge it last year, as well as making my first pro-rate sale. But that’s not the point of the story.) Why yes, this does happen regularly. It’s a cycle. I know this. Doesn’t make it any easier to avoid falling in…but at least I’m getting practice climbing out of it? The current strategy?…