Monday, July 25, 2011

Stress as a cure for writer's block

As I've reported the last few months, I'm in the throes of moving. By the time this is published, I hope to be settled in our new home -- "settled" being a relative term, of course. Let me put it this way: I hope the furniture and our clothing has arrived by the time you read this. If not, well, it'll get interesting!

The Move Process has been relatively stress free until the last week. Then we had a glitch with the financing on the new house (resolved in a few hours), a glitch in the closing date & time on the old house (resolved in a few days), a glitch with the processing of the proceeds from the sale (resolved in a day)... you get the idea. Every day, a new stress, a new thing to resolve.

This has wreaked havoc with my writing. I'm still on target to finish my book by the end of summer, but dammit, life has to slow down just a tad. In an odd way, though, I'm finding that this is a great way to write. I leave the book alone for days at a time and barely remember the characters. Then I go back and re-read the last few chapters I wrote, make edits, dig in, and write a new chapter. The book constantly feels fresh and new to me. I'm going to be curious how it works out in the end. Will it hang together?

Only time will tell. But I may learn from this and try this process on my next WIP, once the dust has settled. If it works, then once again I've found the silver lining in my personal little raincloud. And if it doesn't work and it turns out I've written a disjointed mess, then I least I have some words on the page and something to start with.

Lemons/lemonade. That's my motto, and I'm sticking to it!

4 comments:

Mona Risk said...

JL I love your positive attitude. Of course your new system will work because you want it to work. Good luck on the move. I have never heard of a move that went without glitches.

Unknown said...

JL, If I didn't have a deadline for the next two books, I'd try it now, but I'll wait until I don't have constraints.

I'm sure you're very excited about the new house. The glitches that come with purchasing a new place, selling the old will make you appreciate the new place a lot more.

Good luck with everything and keep us posted on whether your new method of writing worked.

And BTW, Mona, the new facelift to the site is beautiful! Very inviting!

Jill James said...

Lemons/lemonade. Lovely motto. Works for me. Glad you got your new house and are settling in.

Josie said...

Good for you! Hope you've moved into your lovely new home by the time you read this. With your positive attitude, you'll be writing again in no time.