Monday, April 2, 2012

When Are You Most Likely To Write?

Had an eye-opener over the weekend.  Previously I thought my writing habits were dictated by the muse; if my characters were speaking to me, then I'd write.  If I went for a long period without writing a word, then one day my fingertips would overflow with my latest idea.

Turns out that's not the case; at at least, not in the past few years.

Thanks to a blog post by the observant BC Brown, I'm the most prolific when my life is moving along in calm waters.  But thrust me into the angry storm of LIFE, with the force of a Category 5 hurricane, and my creativity shuts down faster than you can say 'Batten down the hatches!'

Which is weird, considering writing can be used to escape chaos; it helps restore order when one's life is out of control.  I am the Master of this Universe; I can make my enemies beg for mercy; I can make sure the star athlete notices and ultimately falls in love with the Nobody.  Or that the star cheerleader sees beneath the surface of the Math Nerd who's tutoring her.

But apparently, that's no longer the case.

Or maybe I'm just experiencing a bit of Dream-Come-True-Apathy?  After all, I've wanted to be published for over twenty years now, and my alter-ego got me in the door three years ago.  And now book #4 is being polished, yet I'm dragging my heels ala petulant child.

LIFE is becoming stable again, at least financial-wise.  On the home front, I'm still dealing with a daughter whose due date is getting closer; my college kid who is facing a tough choice; and my youngling, whose meds seem to have stopped working.  Plus, we still have to deal with our housing; I need to quit procrastinating and fill out that application.

Plus, take a look at what the summer holds and decide if I can indeed promote myself at a few festivals.  There are at least two this year where I'd love to set up; I've not been at either one since 2005.  And that was seven books ago.  Okay; to be fair.....five books ago.

Time to quit contemplating and get to work on the edits.

What Have I Been Reading?


 Hard to get through.  I'll put it away and maybe try to read it again at some point.




Excellent! A Definite Recommended Read, if you like true stories of abuse.



My friends Travis, BC, James, and Joe all have stories in this one.  Some are a little tough, if you get squeamish reading violence.  But the beauty of this book is that it showcases many authors.  So you might find at least one story in this collection!  I'm halfway through this one, as well as halfway through Hunger Games.  The SU and daughter saw the movie over the weekend and really enjoyed it.  I'll probably have to wait until it arrives on DVD, but hey....that's normal for me:)

Have a great day!

4 comments:

Linda Kage said...

I think I might be the opposite of you. When my life is most hectic and troublesome, I burrow into my writing cave, escape from the real world, and spit out the stories. I think I wrote about 50K right after my dad died. And now that it's been a few months...I got nothing!!

Molly Daniels said...

This is why I'm surprised. I used to 'escape' through my writing, but am now too stressed, other than to shred my original words during the 'polishing' phase. To me it doesn't make sense, but at least either once things settle down, or my brain is too stuffed with a story begging to be written, things will be better??

I know; I'm a contradictory mess!

Liz Flaherty said...

I'm not even going to try to say when I'm most prolific, because I'm sure by nightfall, the muse (whoever the hell she is) would make a liar out of me! It's a good subject, though!

Unknown said...

I do my best writing when my life is in turmoil.
I'm a procrastinator though. :)