Painting With Light

What? It’s Almost December?
When time becomes hazy and slippery, as it has for many of us during our almost year-long quarantine, it can stop being the primary force by which we organize our lives. Think about it.

Beginnings and endings, of just about everything, become harder to pinpoint, and our internal narrative structure changes. For instance, I sometimes have trouble remembering what day it is. Plus, I don’t sleep well enough to dream anymore.

I’ve noticed, however, that around here we suddenly seem to have a lot more dirty dishes.

So, when most everything is getting so muddled, what happens to writers, who depend on their imaginations?

Well, I started making lists just to have something to do. If you’re an author, and anything like me, you may also have started writing in short bursts and fragments, looking for different ways to tell a story. Hoping the muse would awaken.

Unfortunately, during many of these long weeks of quarantine, I didn’t write at all. I admit I’ve been very anxious about the larger situation, and watching news about it constantly.

I’ve mentioned before, I was working on three different novels before the pandemic hit. But, suddenly, nothing I was writing down was holding my attention. Worse, when I got stuck, I had no idea what direction to take to fix the problem.

Since I began writing in earnest, I’ve never had to deal with writer’s block quite like this before.

Good Advice
I’ve had one of my novels in my head for years. But the idea is still a big sprawling mess, made up of interconnecting parts that may, or may not, make any sense together someday.

My focus is scattered. My emotions are all mixed up. I’m cheerful, anxious, irritable, giddy, desperate, and optimistic, often in the same afternoon. My equilibrium gets thrown off by how everyone else in the house is feeling. And I’m tired, even on days when I’ve done almost literally nothing.

The best piece of advice I received was: “When you come to the end of it, what would you like to be able to say you’ve done?”

It made me realize doing something is better than doing nothing, so I forced myself back into the habit of writing every day.

I’ve always said, as a writer, when you have an impulse, follow it. But, it’s hard when your severely restricted physical space collides with overburdened mental space.

Now, with the holidays upon us, but sadly separated from family, that mental space seems even more crowded.

However, I went back to the novel-in-progress that was the most finished and looked over what I’d already written. Then, I started to read my research notes again.

I realized I’m happy with my book idea. It closes out a series. I’m not sure it’s going to work the way I hope, or be done at the end of the year, but there’s no way to know if I don’t try. So, bit by bit, I began to write again.

Don’t get me wrong. The dishes are still very much an issue.

But writing is more important than ever.

Keep going. We need you.

Have a safe holiday.

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Gentle Readers, my books have all garnered some terrific reviews. You can see all of them by using the Amazon link below. Check them out. Better yet, buy one and read it. You just might like it.

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You’re invited to visit my author’s website, BROKEN GLASS to hear the remarkable radio interview about my novel “Blood Lake” on The Authors Show, or see my three local television interviews. You can also like my Book of Face page, find me on Goodreads, or follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

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Tags: award-winning author, storytelling, writer's block

This entry was posted on November 24, 2020 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Award-Winning Fiction, Storytelling, Writers Block. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.