Back into the Studio
After a long break
Last month I finished writing Tanager, not just Tanager’s Fleet, but the whole trilogy which had begun a decade earlier with Jade Star (not part of the trilogy, initially, but took on a life of her own in spite of my intentions!) and it left me feeling hollowed out inside. The book I’d had in me was out… now what?
On top of the finale, I went off to a convention, had family visiting, then dealt with a further week of various interruptions in large and small ways. I didn’t have con crud, but I sure did have a lot of book-done-me-in. I know better, at least with the logic part of my brain, than to think I’m done with writing forever. I also struggle with the fact that I have a long latency period (or should that be refractory?) to recover between books. When one is trying to make a living as a writer, this is an issue. As my readers may have noticed, this extended even here to the blog. I haven’t had anything to say about non-fiction, either.
Today, then, I determined I would go to work. Up at my usual time, even more oh-dark-thirty than normal as it’s the day after the time change. Got my coffee, headed to the writing desk with notebook in hand. I’d jotted my opening for the next book in it, longhand, with my new favorite travel fountain pen1. Sat down, pulled open my word processing, and started to transcribe the words. Did some research, which got me flowing into where the plot is headed, roughly, and then wrote fresh words. Got to an inflection point, got more coffee, and then decided I’d do the blog while waiting on the scene to unfold in my head. If this doesn’t get it going, I’ll walk on the treadmill while reading about mummies (relevant to the work in progress) for ten to fifteen minutes. My methods won’t be anyone else’s methods, but I think you’ll see what I’m doing. The ritual of ‘sit down at the planned time, start writing’ is effective.
One of the panels at the convention was talking about writing through chaos. I felt that. I’ve been living that. There were five people on the panel, two of us were professionals. Both of us agreed on this: you can’t wait around for the words. You have to go and get them. Setting times to write, with boundaries to enforce those, is important no matter who you are and what your writing goals are. For my readers who are not creatives, or those who struggle to make time for personal work, this applies to far more than writing. It’s just that’s what I do! I talked on the panel about being a single mother of four young children, and how I still found time to write by setting aside small portions of each day dedicated to doing that. One of the other panelists, an amateur writer, objected to this concept, saying that you can’t expect the inspiration to come during set times of day. Her thought was that you have to be ready whenever it strikes you. Sure. Have a notebook and a handy pen in your pocket. But also, train your brain to produce the goods when you sit down and get your hands ready. The muse may be a fickle fluttery thing, but you have the ability to craft a butterfly net, grab it, and put it to work for you.
I’ve spent two weeks recovering. That’s more than long enough. Time to get back to work.
This one on Amazon, and yeah, that’s an affiliate link because it helps defray the blog costs. I really like this pen, so it’s definitely a recommend for those of you who prefer a fountain pen and want one you can tuck into a pocket without worries about leaks.
I needed this. It's 9am, Monday. Sitting down to write, right now.
Let me point out a problem that I think I see with regard to your writing muse. You only mentioned 2 encounters with coffee when you tried your recent attempt at jump-starting your writing. 2 mugs of coffee is insufficient. I know this to be true, We sea-going types know this. You know you are getting enough coffee only as long as the calluses on the fingers that hold your mug remain thick and hardy. Kind of like you can tell a smoker by the nicotine stains...foul habit, that...and an addiction indicating weakness too. I am going to try to stretch a quote into a metaphor, bare with me, please. Winston Churchill said (circa 1897), "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." I would say that "Nothing so excites the creative muse than great quantities of caffeine delivered by stout black coffee unadulterated by additives."
That cat. That supercilious, superiorizing stare. Watch out. That cat means to do you harm. I have seen that look before. Check the inside of your shoes before you put them on.