Writing during the holidays is much harder than writing at other times, (as the time of this blog post shows) at least for me. Not only have I been busy wrapping presents (and feeling very elvish as I do so), cooking and baking, and spending lots of time with my family, but I have also been taking time to breathe, eat, and yes, even sleep. (In case you're wondering, yes, at my age, sleep is considered a luxury.) Yay! Of course, all of this means less time for my writing (and my novel-editing plan that I was naive enough to believe that I would actually have time to follow) . Therefore, I'm feeling very behind. That, coupled with my inability to finish my stories because the stories aren't good enough, is making me want to write less.
That being said, I still make time to write every day, whether I completely hate the story (which has been happening frequently lately) or not. It's harder, though. Everyone has so many other things that they should, or could, be doing and are expected of them that sometimes it's difficult to force yourself to make the time to write. I had a nice opportunity yesterday to write, have introverted self-time, and showcase my creativity, when I participated in my big family annual talent show. I wrote a poem in about twenty minutes (pausing, of course, for the other acts) and then I read it aloud. It didn't have the quality that I would like for my poems to have, but it was simple and fine enough. At least, it was a creative endeavor.
This week, I'm going to start editing. Really. It's not going to turn into one of those things where I despise it secretly and therefore procrastinate any time I possible can. Oh no, it won't be like that at all. Today, I'm going to finish my read-through and list of problems/solutions, and then starting on Wednesday, I'll start editing, at least according to plan. That will give me a week to edit so that my second draft will be done, at least, if all goes well. If not, the editing will drag on for months. See, aren't I optimistic?
Merry Christmas and have fun writing this week!
Katia,
the writer girl
Never fear you aren't the only one. I am hating my story as well. I hate the atmosphere even my main character's character type and I haven't even finished my first draft. But my friend says I should and makes me see now that I've written 20k+ I have to keep writing. So I guess you just have to dig at it and read books -don't forget that :) listening to music helps, I find, even better if it has a similar feeling to the scene you are dreading to write.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I've written a lot of starts to novels that I dislike, and then I stop. For me, if I don't have the motivation to continue, and don't actually like the story or characters, then I stop. Right now, I'm not struggling with writing so much as really knowing how to begin editin, and the scale of my revisions. Yes, books are my favorite. They're practically the only things I've been engaging in for the past few days. :)
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