Happy new year! Grand tidings for brighter, more peaceful days. Only 75 days until spring officially starts! I think we’ve all breathed a sigh of relief that we’ve made it through 2020. That is behind us. Done. Gone. The End. Time for a new beginning. A new year. A new opportunity. Every day is a chance to make a fresh new start.
“The End!” Magical words for writers. Words to be celebrated because you’ve accomplished a great thing. All writers love it when they get to that last sentence of their manuscript. You’ve written a book, for crying out loud! But, what does that really mean? It really means you’re at the beginning. The beginning of the editing process, or the publishing process, or the marketing process. Books are like babies. We carry them next to our hearts and nourish them until they’re ready to face the world and then we help them grow. And that growth process, just like with children, often takes quite a while.
Sometimes it’s hard to move on to the next project because we’re spending so much time helping the new baby grow into a best-seller we can be proud of. And sometimes, just like with children, it’s a little hard to let them go and trust that they’re going to be okay. Sometimes you get “empty manuscript syndrome.”
I don’t know about other authors, but because I’m still so new to this whole writing and publishing world, I find myself daydreaming about those characters after I’ve typed “the end.” What happens after happily ever after? It’s like I can’t seem to let them go even though their story is technically over.
So, what do I do to get motivated to move on to the next project? Well, I find that what really works best is to just write something – anything. A blog post, a marketing ad about that book, a social media post, or even just commenting on other peoples’ blogs. It’s all writing. It all gets the wheels of creativity spinning around.
Other times, I spend hours – yes hours – looking at photos for inspiration for my next book. I usually have some idea about the characters, the plot, the setting, but I am just not quite up to writing the story. Hey – it happens. I’ve never been able to force a story or a plot line. If I can’t let the words flow organically, I get stuck. That’s when the photo surfing comes in handy. It gets me to thinking about my characters again and what they might be thinking, or feeling, or doing in a particular photograph and how that might advance my plot. May sound weird to you, but it usually does the trick for me.
Sometimes just imagining what the cover of my book will look like helps to get through the jam. I’m getting ready to start editing the first book of my new series but I’m not in a good place mentally right now (depressing life stuff) so I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at photos to use for my inspiration when I really get in there and polish up this story. I know I’ve already described in the manuscript what they look like, sort of, but I’ve been searching for actual photos I can use when I go through the manuscript for editing. I can add some subtle little details based on the photo I’ve chosen.
I’ve also spent some time brainstorming a new book; the third in my new series. Again, I’ve got the basics worked out in my head, but I need to start with that first sentence, paragraph, page, chapter and I’m having a hard time doing that. So, back to the photos I go. Now that I have a general idea how these people look, I think I’m ready to put them into action. Let’s hope anyway. As a earlier post mentioned, Murphy has been my friend for quite a while now. Now, when it’s slow and I have lots of time to write, I have no motivation. Damn that Murphy!
So, as we begin 2021 – it is with cautious optimism that I dive back into my writing and being a full-time author. Oh sure, I’m hopeful that I’ll continue to be an innkeeper as well, but that might be out of my control. And so, write I will.
So tell me, how are you guys facing this new year? Ready for some brighter days? Doing anything different this year? Any advice for staying on task despite the obstacles? Let me know your thoughts.
Word of the Day: spall
Fun fact about me: I feel like I’m running out of words for my “word of the day” and yet I know that’s not possible.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, January 2021. Images by Google and Pexels, and giphy.com.
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I love Pinterest for that very reason – finding inspirational pictures that fit my characters or the world. Sometimes, that’s just the spark I need for my imagination to take off and creativity to start flowing. I’ve been thinking about making a cork board to pin pictures in my writing room to keep me grounded in the world and characters. Here’s to a great year of writing and inspiration!!
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I do the cork board! It’s very helpful. I keep “need to know” information on there (like how long it’s been since; how many miles it is between;) stuff like that that I often need to come back to in the story. It’s all right there on my cork board. I usually have pictures, maps, a list of characters and their descriptions. I love cork boards. Some people use word processing programs for that, but I love to just look up and see it, right there.
I’ve got some writing related plans for 2021 but we shall see what happens. I don’t want to use the word “goals” because that seems like failure if I don’t achieve them. So . . . plans that are subject to change.
How about you? Anything new on the horizon?
Patricia
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I struggle to stay on task or focused on… pretty much anything, these days. At least I figured out the plot point I was stuck on for way too long. Back to writing tonight! Hope yours goes well!
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Thanks. Hang in there. I thing brighter days are coming.
I’ve started a new book so that’s exciting. Doing some research and looking forward to putting it into the manuscript.
Take care of yourself. Stay strong.
Patricia
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