Friends, I won't lie to you: I love writing, I love that this is my life, but there are times when it's a grind. There are plenty of times where the idea of going into a manuscript just makes me want to go lie down.
Right now, I've had to put drafting A Parliament of Bodies to the side for a couple weeks. Largely to focus on Holver Alley promotion, Imposters of Aventil copyedits and a whole lot of home/business/Live the Language stuff that required the forefront of my attention. Now it's time to get back into Parliament.
And getting back into a book once you've been out of it for a chunk of time can be a real grind. If the engine is cold, it takes a bit to get back up to full speed.
Part of the process, for me, involves printing out what I've got and reading through with a red pen. It helps get me back in the mindset, and see where I might be starting to lose the plot or go off course.
This part isn't always "fun", though, so it helps to have a couple other things to mix it up and keep it fresh. A big thing I do to help this is engage in a secondary project for a bit, to be a palate cleanser. I'll also do long-term planning, big picture work.
And all this is why, this week, I've been making hand-edits on the first part of Parliament, working a bit on The Secret Project, and updating all the Maradaine spreadsheets. And doing that stuff is, frankly, a lot of fun for me. Especially after a couple weeks of household bookkeeping data entry. Oh, taxes, such a joy. But that work is done, at least.
How about you? How's your journey in the word mines this week?
