‘Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen and not a shadow of an idea of what you are going to say.’
Francoise Sagan
:::drumming fingers on computer:::
I haven’t written anything (except comments on blog posts, and a few minor revisions) for at least two days now. Am I busy? Not especially. Distracted? A bit.
As part of my Christmas presents, my son’s ex-gf (and still roommate) got me a ticket to a concert that I had told them about, for a band we all like. Evil Son and said Ex got tickets for themselves after I informed them this band was coming to town, but did not offer to pick up a ticket for me (for which I would have paid, had they asked). I was a little miffed. Actually I was going to cut him out of the will (as soon as I put one together). So he’s saved now. Anyway, I was looking up directions to the venue where the concert is going to be and then of course saw the roster of acts that are playing there over the next four months, which included a couple of Finnish metal bands, so I had to check out their sites… Sweet Brigid how one thing leads to another.
As you can see, I’ve also just learned how to do the ‘excerpt’ thing here. But the point is, I’ve been spending so much time geeked out on music I haven’t been able to concentrate on writing. I’m kind of at a standstill again with Andrej and his story. It needs revising, badly. I’m talking major surgery. There’s no point in pressing on if I’m going to ditch large chunks of the story. I want to take it in a whole different direction, so it’s nearly starting from scratch. Some of it will stay, but I seem to have meandered so far from the original intent that it’s almost unrecognizable to me. The problem is, I don’t know how to fix it. I have absolutely no idea how to undo the damage. Not a shadow of an idea. I’m half tempted to just ditch the whole thing entirely and move on to something else. I’m disgusted, disappointed. It’s just bad. I’ve been working on this thing for about nine months now (excluding November, of course). I don’t even have the satisfaction of a live birth after all that time. I know some folks would say to put it aside for awhile, work on something else. Well, I think we know what will happen if I do that: I’ll never get back around to it.
Has anyone else ever totally given up on a novel after almost a year?
(cross-posted from Filling Spaces)
I’d suggest to keep plowing through. I know a lot of people would say to rest it for awhile, and if you feel that’s the right thing for you to do, then you should. However, (you knew that was coming) I used to stop whenever I hit snags. It wasn’t till I faced them and fought through that I finished Portraits.
Well, in my typically moody fashion, I’m back to working on the thing anyway
I know what I want this story to say, and I do feel like I have something to say with it, so giving up entirely will probably never happen, despite my ups and downs on it. I tried working a little more on my NaNo novel, which as you know is intended to be the prequel to another… but I think Andrej has possessed me, I can’t seem to leave it alone!
And I think you’re right about plowing through. If we let ourselves give up when the going gets tough, we’ll end up with a pile of half-finished stories.
“we’ll end up with a pile of half-finished stories.”
Indeed. That used to be my bane.
Good luck! I’m about to do my workout and then sit down with my laptop. If I get frustrated, I’ll just think of you clicking away at the keys across the ocean.
And if that doesn’t work- then more pushups.