It’s not exactly writer’s block, but I’m not sure what to call it.
Friday was the first day since the first of the year that I have not written over 500 words. I spent my writing time grasping for ideas, only to have them slip through my fingers. It was a fifty day chain, a better run than I’ve had in long time. I have written over 500 words on Saturday and Sunday, but not making my goal Friday bugs me.
I know part of the reason that I broke my streak has to do with the fact that my novel is currently being reviewed by someone. There is no point in me making changes to it at this point if I am going to be getting comments on an older version. So I’m stalled on that project for the moment.
The other projects I’ve been working on aren’t flowing quite as well. I finished a short ghost story, but I want to let it sit and marinate a few more days before I return to it. I am waiting for some information for my co-writing projects before I can move forward with them. I’ve got a rewrite that I could be working on, except I haven’t completely figured out how I want to change it. My last idea running in my head is more of a character than a plot, so I have to figure out what I am going to do with him.
I think what I’m seeing is the first signs of burnout. Things have been stressful at work for the last three weeks with no signs of abating. Home life has also had a few new kinks thrown into it that I am adapting to. I can feel both of those are affecting my focus and sapping my energy.
One of the podcasts I listened to mentioned something about refilling your whimsy to help with your creative capacity. I really haven’t been paying attention to the whimsy side of things. I do get away for a little while, but I rarely get a chance to relax more than an hour or two. Clearly, I need more than that.
So I’m going to fix this by giving myself one night off of writing. I might work on something else. I might outline a story. I might just sit in front of the TV and vegetate. I might shift my goal to an average of 500 words a day. I’ll try this for a few weeks and see what happens.
Sounds like your love tank is getting low. Time to fill it up with something different. 🙂
Could be.
I had an idea to write down some of one character’s backstory. I figured it would be one or two scenes and around 1,000 words. It’s currently at 2,000 words, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. A friend pointed out that it could be a book in and of itself. Looks like I have a new project.