Just Keep Swimming, Again

It’s now well and truly into 2021, dear readers, and we’re still here!

But wait…where is the new and shining not-2020-anymore we were promised? Politics has settled down, that’s huge. But the pandemic just keeps throwing new curveballs our way, winter is still happening, we still can’t travel or even (depending on where you are) socialize in person.

It’s tough being human in this environment, and unfortunately for our devoted fans, writers are also humans. Writing has gotten much harder for many of us. Unfortunately for our loved ones, we’re happier and less neurotic when we’re able to write. But being sad or anxious or stressed makes it harder to write…you can see the problem.

Seems like every year around this time, I blog about going back to writerly basics: write the smallest amount possible, write something fun, trick the brain into being creative again.

In November, three of us wrote 100 words a day. In December, I did it again. 6000 words in two months is not a lot, but it was the best I’d managed all year. It was going so well that for January, I decided to inch the goal up to 4000 words.

Then, of course, January knocked the wind out of me, as it always does.

I wrote zero words of fiction.

I did, however, determinedly do a lot of brainstorming and planning for my novel in progress. (I had hit my usual wall of just-under-20K where the beginning fizzles out and I realize I have no solid plan for the middle, let alone the end.)

Then I wrote a poem, which you’ll get to see up on TDP next month. Poetry isn’t a usual thing for me, but it does happen once in a while. I’m always grateful when it does.

Now we’re into February, spring is inching closer, and as for writing? We’ll see. But I am a writer, and I’ll find my way back to it. I always do.

As Dory says, “Just keep swimming…”