So a few days ago, I started writing again for the first time in SIX MONTHS. Yes, my friends, six months. It’s the longest time I ever went without writing since 2003, I estimate, because that’s when I started writing every day. I’ve had pockets of time where I stopped, or had to stop, like when I finished the revision of Fey Touched in 2012 and was brain dead for two months, or when the trigeminal neuralgia flared for the first time in my left eye and I quit the computer for three months, thinking it was my heavy computer usage (spoiler alert: it wasn’t). But never, ever have I went six months without a word of fiction. I have written poems here and there, so words were written — just not fiction words.
Why on earth would I do such a thing, you ask? Why put myself through such torture? And yes, it was absolute torture. I don’t recommend it at all.
There were a few things going on. One, I simply didn’t have the time. Sounds lame, because who doesn’t have time to write, but it’s absolutely true. With my health being sucky and my energy being low, and every minute I felt okay devoted to work, there just wasn’t any leftover spoons for writing — except poetry. I was battling a sleep disorder and head pain as well, so those things just made it worse. I was still stressed from the pandemic. Things are getting better overall, but we are far from out of the woods. Far from it. I still have concerns despite being fully vaccinated. Big concerns. So that’s still in the back of my head. And finally, would you believe that I had a bit of a writer’s block thing going on? I just finished my freebie for this site a few days ago — very late — because I simply could not get into the right headspace or idea to start. I mean, I had the idea, had the general story arc, knew how I wanted it to begin, but every time I thought about actually starting….the words wouldn’t come. It went like this for a few weeks. And then it got critical because I’m having minor surgery in two days and I wanted to get it into approvals ahead of that so my fellow Turtleduckers could start reading it while I was recovering and I would hopefully have it back in time to edit it in time for the July 1st posting date. So I had to start. And I did. And it worked out, but it was close. And I am NOT the kind of person that thrives on a last-minute situation, either. That would give me hives!
So it’s done. I am now turning my attention to my TDP novella, Soul Song, which needs a loose outline. Again, I know the gist, but it’s already feeling weird. Is this the product of just being out of practice? Am I literally rusty at this? Is it like poetry — how I didn’t write it for years and now I am feeling my way back to it slowly? It hasn’t been years! But it sure feels that way. Maybe because I barely wrote anything before the break too. There just hasn’t been a lot of fiction writing going on for quite some time, really. Last year, work was nuts and that really affected my writing time. I am still trying to figure out how to integrate writing into my daily routine. Hasn’t quite happened yet. If I can get that going, I think I’d have a chance at getting back to the way it used to be. Because it’s been weird not writing every day. Like a part of me has gone away. I did this for years — rain, shine, migraine, pain, recovering from surgery…it didn’t matter. I got words. Granted, sometimes they weren’t a ton of words, like in the case of a lot of pain or a migraine, but they were words. My most prolific year was 399,915 words. Almost hit 400,000! And that was on one book! Least prolific year? Last year at around 40,000. I usually average around 150,000.
So clearly I need to make some changes and make writing more central. I also have a ton of novel ideas that I am dying to write. That 399k novel? Yeah, that’s close to being ready. Needs a bit more work, but that’s going to be a future TDP novel. I’ve got Reaper Girl #3, The Vanishing, to finish revising. I’ve got a trilogy I just bought covers for. And a bunch of other things. So, yeah. Need to get out of this slump and into the groove again. Anybody have any tips? I feel like I’m starting over again.