Stay With It.

Don’t give up!

My post today was inspired by a comment I read online. The writer was feeling down. They have a passion for writing and feel they have lost their edge. They find it difficult to work on a current novel.

Your passion is your best asset. There will be days when you don’t feel good about writing, or what you’re working on. The best thing to do is to keep writing. I’ve been writing for about 30 years and there are days when my passion gets the better of me and I put the pen down. Then there are days when I wake and feel great about my writing, even though I may not be writing.

Leave the work sit for a few months. File it away at the back of your mind. If it comes back in a flurry, write what it is that has triggered the thought, otherwise, leave it be. When the story is ready to be dealt with, you will find that it will flow and any changes that need to be made will work and will work well.

Here’s what I do with my stories. I imagine that all of my stories (about 30-40 of them) each sit in a large pot. Each pot is on its own burner on a stove and has a bell attached. I have these pots sorted into two spaces. I have a primary space, which I will be working on anywhere up to six stories at once. These are bubbling away on a mid-high temperature, so they are always active. The rest of the stories are in the secondary space. These pots are on the lowest possible heat setting so they are still bubbling away, just. Every now and then, a bell will ring in the secondary room. For whatever reason, I have had a sudden rush of inspiration for that story, so I attend to it. I make notes, or writes scenes, or whatever it is that needs to be done. Once finished, that pot goes back to the low setting until the alarm goes off again. With those pots in the primary space, their bells receive the same response. If it goes off, I attend to it. Now, their bells do go off slightly more often as they are always in the front of my mind regarding thinking about them. It works for me, no matter how bizarre it sounds. Of course, when a story is finished and theoretically published, it moves to the library to be enjoyed.

Self-doubt is the mortal enemy of the writer. It can cause us to lay aside a great work because we feel it isn’t good enough. Or that we’re not good enough to continue working on it. It is a barrier that we have to go through, and it won’t be only once. I have those days, even though my stories are placed into one of the two rooms as described above. I no longer have the vast chasms of doubt between how I feel about a story and the story itself. If I can’t write a story, it goes to sleep for as long as is required.

There are days I wish I could bring all of my stories to the front room, but then I would never see the light of days again. Passion can be about balance. Be passionate about writing. Be passionate about your stories. Be passionate about your writing life. Learn to balance when it’s right to work on a story and when its right to leave it alone.

I referred earlier to leaving a story for a few months. Whilst the length of time is arbitrary, the sentiment is the same. If you are struggling with a piece, put it aside. I have done that many times, especially when editing. When I have come back to the story, I see it differently and can edit it better and make whatever changes are required. We get to a point of saturation with pieces we work on. We have to let the sponge dry out a bit so that we can accept new ideas, new thoughts, new ways of telling the story.

Don’t give up! The story will happen, it may take a little longer than we hoped for. Without going to my first book published, I think I listed the copyright dates as 18 years apart. The first date was when I first began the story. The second date was when I actually published it. That story has undergone some radical changes and it going to be re-published, I don’t know when at this stage as I need to get it edited.

Your passion will inspire you. Your passion will infuriate you. Your passion will see you fight for a great story. Your passion will see you get that thing published. Your passion will see you win!