Sometimes, You Just Have to Start Over

 

Photo Credit: Marta Nogueira at Pexels

 

Writers tend to invest a lot of time and hard work into their projects. They’ll spend hours and days working on that article, short story, or book, even if it seems to be going nowhere.

 

Writers tend to be stubborn, so when it comes to something they are writing that appears to be impossible or useless to write, they’ll roll up their sleeves and give it their best effort. They actually LIKE the idea of something appearing to be impossible to write, because then they can say that THEY wrote it. THEY got the job done.

 

So it’s understandable that, when upon realizing that it’s time to abandon a project, the writer will have a hard time doing so. They just DON’T want to give up on it. Not yet, anyway.

 

That was my situation this week. And for me, abandoning the writing project I was spending ALL of that time working on was an easy thing to do – because I have deadlines to meet!

 

I have been spending time this month working on two different articles for two publications. One of them is for my column writing gig. With both articles, I really had a hard time getting them written.

 

With one article, I couldn’t find sufficient information to make the article work.

 

For the other article, I couldn’t figure out the slant. I knew WHAT I wanted to write about, but I had to figure out HOW to write about it.

 

So I spent a lot of time this month trying to make those articles work. I kept up with my research and looked into other articles on this topic.

 

But all of that just wasn’t really going anywhere, and as my deadlines got closer, I knew I had to make a choice: Either keep up with it or ditch them and try something else.

 

In the end, I decided to ditch both articles. I didn’t delete them, because maybe I would have better luck with them later, but I decided that it was time to change things up a bit in order for me to turn my articles in on time.

 

My solution: Change the topic. I did this for both articles and immediately got to work on them (again!) with the focus on these new topics. Fortunately, these efforts have been more successful.

 

As to those articles I ditched, I figured that maybe the one that I could not get enough information for just needed to sit for a while. Maybe I will come across that information at a later time. There are always new publications popping up! With the other one, I decided on a slant for it, BUT that particular slant will require some time and money. I can just work on this article at leisure and send it to a different publication that I do not have deadlines with whenever it is ready.

 

This was not the first time I have had to abandon a writing project and start over again. I have had to do this with poems, short stories, essays, and even whole books. In fact, my novels Shadow of Samhain and Faded Reflection were rewritten several times before I felt they were “just right” and sent them out. With a short story that reached a dead end, I decided that since the deadline for my submission was fast approaching, I needed to put that one on hold and write a different story entirely for that particular anthology.

 

If a writer is struggling with a WIP, one of the solutions to getting out of that struggle is to just put it away for a while. Another solution is to abandon it entirely and start over.

 

Starting from the beginning really isn’t so bad. It may seem frustrating to have to start over, especially after investing so much time and effort into trying to write or revise something, but if the current method to get the job done isn’t working, starting over is usually the best thing to do.

 

Sometimes, abandoning a project and starting over again is just the thing needed in order to be successful with that attempt to write the thing the writer was unable to write before. A fresh start can offer a fresh perspective and new ideas, so consider giving it a try the next time you are struggling to write or revise your work-in-progress.

Writing Through the Storm

Photo credit: Tumisu on Pixabay

 

In the past, I have talked about how writing was the one thing I turned to when I was about to lose all hope for humanity. It was my saving grace when everything was falling apart. It was the only thing that helped me to retain my sanity.

 

But at the same time, it can be hard to write when everything really is falling apart.

 

It’s hard to get excited about a story or hold on to that spark that helped me to start writing an article or book when I can't get excited about things in real life.

 

That’s exactly what I have been dealing with this week. Some things have happened that have made it hard for me to keep going with the writing work I have been doing. Because I have deadlines, I have kept plodding forward, doing what needs to be done so that I can meet those deadlines in time. With other things, however, it’s not so easy. I have been asking myself questions like “What’s the point of even revising that book or short story?” or “What’s the point of even writing that story?”

 

The answer, of course, is to get those things done. To finish revising that book and those short stories, to finish writing that story. To finish editing that other book and finish writing that other book.

 

The point is to keep writing, because writing is the one and only thing that I still have any control over. I can write or I can not write. That choice is still up to me. What I do during all of this mess is STILL up to me! 

 

I love to write, and that’s why I write.

 

Writing is my chance to escape from the horrors of this world to, well, the horrors of another world. Or if I’m writing a children’s story, science fiction, or fantasy, then the writing is an escape to somewhere else – somewhere better.

 

I don’t need to have a reason to write.

 

I don’t need permission to write.

 

I don’t need any validation to write.

 

It’s okay to write even when things get hard. It’s okay to write even if there is no home for the things that we write. It’s okay to keep writing even when the world is in chaos.

 

The act of writing itself is all that matters.

 

Another reminder that I have used to help me get through the emotions that have swarmed around in me all week is that I will be happy when I finish work on something. It’s always a great feeling to finish writing something. Finishing what I start writing – or revising or editing – offers a HUGE sense of accomplishment other acts of completion do not. At the end of the day, it will be one more thing that I will have ready to send out somewhere, whenever that destination is found.

 

I finished writing this thing. I finished revising this book. On to the next one!

 

My very long list of writing projects reminds me that there is more work waiting to be done. I just need to finish the CURRENT writing project first before I can tackle the next one.

 

These are all of the reminders that I have told myself as I struggled with trying to focus on writing instead of focusing on my feelings. Even if those things to write and revise don’t get published, they still need to be written and revised. I need to finish work on them. They need to be done.

 

I might find a new publisher for those books later. I might succeed in my efforts to self-publish my children’s books. Things might work out okay in the future. Who knows?

 

I am upset about things that have happened now, and they make me feel like it is The End. But it’s not The End. Not yet. My journey is not over; it’s just taking a detour.

 

I have managed to get some work done this week in spite of feeling so down about everything. I have worked on revisions for two short stories that I plan to submit, and I worked on my deadlines. I have also written this blog post. I have also written in my journal, using it to vent and moan about everything. That helped a lot!

 

But I am starting to feel like showing up for the writing acting like everything is okay when everything is NOT okay is being fake. It’s pasting a smile on my face when instead I am actually frowning. I don’t want that fake sense of positivity to seep into my writing. (Maybe it helps that I write horror!) I don’t want to be fake with people and I don’t want it to look like I am ignoring the bad things going on by shining light on only the good things.

 

But maybe that is what we need. We need more good things. There are already so many bad things, and I don’t want to add to that. Yes, I can write about the bad things, but in a more constructive way instead of being a huge downer about them. And maybe I can write about the bad things in a way that would make readers want to create change or take action against them.

 

That is one solution to coping with adversity: Putting it to a positive or inspirational use in the writing. It’s certainly challenged me to try to look at them differently and see how I can turn those bad things into good things.

 

All of this has reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from Doctor Who: “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.”

 

As long as the writing is important to me, it’s worth it to keep at it in spite of the bad things.

 

Just yell “Plot twist!” and carry on.  

The Importance of Getting Started Early to Meet Deadlines

 

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February is such a short month. This was the thought I had at the start of the month. Yes, February may seem like a regular month to some people, but a month can go by fast, which is what this month did.

 

And this is why I started on my February deadlines early.

 

I have an article due at the end of every month, and I have found that if I start working on this article at the beginning of the month, and work on it as often as possible during the month, I will have it ready to submit by month’s end.

 

Recently, I had one month to write an article for Able News. Instead of thinking “Oh, I have time,” I got started on that article ASAP! (That article required interviewing people, so it’s a good thing that it didn’t need to be rushed.)

 

The point is that the shortness of February served as a good reminder to get started on meeting deadlines as early as possible. Instead of thinking “I have a whole month to write that, I have time,” it’s a good idea to get started with writing that thing you have a deadline for as soon as you are able to. Don’t wait your time out. Spend that time doing something proactive in order to meet your deadline. Draft an outline, do some research, start prewriting your piece. Start thinking about your writing project so that you will be thinking about it here and there as the days pass.

 

One other deadline that I have is for a book. Because I would like this book to release in December, the publisher I am submitting it to let me know what month I need to get it to them. Before I received this news, I was hard at work revising this manuscript. When I shared the method I am using to have the manuscript ready in time, the person I shared this with said, “Wow.” He asked why I was doing so much work on it each day and I explained that this method will ensure that I am able to meet the deadline to submit it. It’s a method that works just fine for me, and it’s one I’m glad I started using early because it’s just the right process to meet that deadline.

 

With a gig I had recently (and will have again soon), my deadline to turn in my work was every Monday by 10AM my time. I’d spend the week working on the new assignments I had lined up for me and turn them in on the following Monday. I would wake up early on that Monday (which I started to refer to as “Deadline Day”) and start getting my work sent in first thing. I made it the first task on my list every Monday morning so that I could meet that deadline. (Sometimes, I went without my morning coffee in order to do this!) This practice ensured that I got my work turned in on time every Monday (and so that I could get paid on that same day!). I didn’t sit around and relax on those mornings, thinking, “Eh, I have all the time in the world to meet my deadline.” I really didn’t. So I made it a priority to do that FIRST every time Deadline Day rolled around.

 

If you have a deadline, don’t wait to get started working on it. Start doing what you can to meet that deadline right now, no matter how little that effort may be. Any effort you make to start meeting your deadline will get you on the path toward meeting it, and it is a positive step in the right direction. The time you have available to meet your deadline will allow you the extra time you need in case there are any detours you run into along the way. The best part about starting work on your deadlines early? You just might get your work done early, and have some extra time to make any changes or corrections before your own Deadline Day.