So you might remember a few days ago I thought the solution to my writerly troubles was tea, sleep, and a deep breath?
Spoilers: I was wrong.
I don’t understand my brain.
I spent an entire weekend trying to peck out the draft of a short story I had a deadline for and fought my way through maybe 2,000 words. I was exhausted and it was like wading through knee-deep mud. Or cake batter. Whichever you prefer.
I ditched that for the evening and started something new based on half a line that popped into my head. Just to “relax.”
Then I tripped out 1300 words without even trying in an hour and a half.
There’s just something not fair about that. But I have a completed 4,000-odd word first draft tonight that I started on Sunday, so I’m not going to complain too loudly.
And to ice the cake, this was my sixth attempt at writing for this deadline. As in I have the beginnings, ranging from less than a paragraph to a few thousand words of five different failed story attempts in addition to the one I finally drafted. Everything from high fantasy to historical fiction (with magic, mind you) to ghost stories.
Can I say how happy I am I finally found something that works? Urban fantasy to the rescue (again)!
Small victories.
It’s a huge relief. Now I just have to edit and revise and tenth-guess myself until it’s polished smooth as a gemstone. But I have written from the beginning to the end. I can breathe a little. A little.
So now I’m listening to the Hadestown musical soundtrack (how did I not know about this thing? How? And what bizarre lovliness is it?) and starting The Mortal Instruments series. The book is dancing a careful line between awesome and a touch annoying. A very careful line.
Ever had a similar struggle? Don’t believe in writer’s block? Leave me a comment and make my day.
BookmarkedOne 
12 responses to “Writing Update: Things are…less terrible”
Oh my goodness, writer’s block is so annoying! It feels like an uphill battle and you wonder if it’s even worth the tremendous effort. I experience writer’s block with stories that my inspiration has just fizzled out on. It takes a lot of grinding to get back on track. Congrats on completing that draft! And I also enjoy the Hadestown musical soundtrack! (I wouldn’t have known about it if a friend hadn’t recommended it.) Have a wonderful day! 🙂
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Thank you! I always give people who don’t believe in writer’s block a sort of exasperated admiration. It’s real enough for me!
Any other lovely tunes in your musical taste I should be aware of? 🙂
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Hm, I enjoy also enjoy the HTTYD and LOTR soundtracks! Those are especially good for writing. Something I discovered recently is my penchant for waltz-type songs with a strong piano melody throughout. Those kinds of songs just make my heart soar.
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(happy applause for two wonderful soundtracks and movie series) Oh yes, those are marvelous too. As if I haven’t been caught singing “The Song of the Lonely Mountain” from The Hobbit about a dozen times despite my very not-Thorin-like voice. 🙂
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I love that song, too!
By the way, I tagged you for the Liebster Award over on my blog. (I couldn’t figure out how to use your contact form, or else I would have sent a message through there. 😛 )
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Ach, that comment form. Thanks, I should look at fixing that.
Thank you so much for the tag! I can already tell I’m going to have far too much fun.
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Yup, broken contact form. It’s working now though, if you ever want to say hi again later!
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I’m glad it’s working! I’ll be sure to say “hi” again sometime. 😉
P.S. I can’t wait to see what you do with the tag!
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It will never cease to amaze and confound me how stories get written. A few years ago I was planning to participate in Camp Nanowrimo. I had my project picked out–a story I had been thinking about for over a year–but when I sat down on the first of the month to write it….it felt like every single word took huge effort, and when I looked back at what I’d written, it was incredible bland and stilted. I gave up maybe five hundred words in. Then, lo and behold, half way through the month, I had an idea for a new story indirectly inspired by a song lyric and…I wrote 25k by the end of the month. It’s almost like certain stories just decide when it’s their time to be written.
AAHHHHHH, the HADESTOWN SOUNDTRACK. I love it dearly. It’s so jammin’. And beautiful.
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I think sometimes I can’t write because I know too much about the story–or I think I do. Like how you never knew your best friend has a passion for orange wool socks because it’s your best friend and you therefore know everything about them? It’s only when stories are surprising that they can be written.
In other words, yeah, stories totally decide if they want me to write them or if they’re going to curl up on my beanbag and say go away.
What is this Hadestown fandom that I have stumbled into? How did I not know–? These comments make me even more excited to listen to it all!
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Oh my, I had this happen to me when I was taking a creative writing class! We had assigned weeks and as we were walking out someone asked me if I had a story ready for my turn next week – and I’m all like, I have a hot mess I’m trying to turn into something. We had up to ten pages, and I could not get this idea past six pages that I HATED. Class was on Tuesday. On Thursday I sat down and started a completely new story – and had ten pages written and edited (with a bit of research thrown in) by Tuesday that I absolutely Loved. It’s one of my projects to finish the novel idea it started. But, you know, time.
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Yes, that sounds exactly like what happened! Maybe I was just too tense about my deadline to be creative. Glad you got a good story out of it!
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