Wednesday, December 09, 2009

So I've gone back to revise the one book I've written all the way through so far. My critique group's cheering me on, and my imagination is flexing its underused muscles for sustained workouts. But I've been a casualty of the weather and the cycle of illnesses that come with seasonal changes--more than usual now, since I've married a doctor, who brings all sorts of interesting bugs home with no effort at all.

To get myself in the right frame of mind, I upgraded my copy of WRITER'S CAFE, a thankfully cross-platform program that allows me to keep track of all of the bits and pieces I used to put my story together. I also bought two books--one, Thinking Write: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind buy Kelly Stone, to help me tap into my subconscious mind to be more creative and more prolific; the other, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins, was admittedly something of an impulse buy because I was fascinated by the option to pay a wee bit more and be able to access the book's text online through my Amazon account. I thought these books would help me get the ball rolling again, get me back into the mood.

Alas, chain colds and fatigue do not make for a good baseline for building good writing habits. I'm far from ready to admit defeat, but I'm also far from where I want to be in my return to writing. And I fear falling back into that old tar-pit of procrastination.

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

I hope the bugs will leave you alone for a while. Tis the season I suppose. I've been pretty lucky, considering how many students I've had sneeze on their papers before turning them in. Good luck with you work. I'm cheering you on as well!