It isn’t like I didn’t know that writing a novel would be easy. And it doesn’t get better the more novels that you write since each novel is different and has its own challenges.
Right now, I’m in the middle of my novel (again) and it’s really wearing me down. Last night, it took me about an hour just to get started. I stared at the blank computer screen with The Bachelorette on TV (it was on mute but I could still tell that there was some major drama going on).
When I finally got some words down for the Summer Challenge, I felt like it was just in exercise in spinning wheels. I’m already thinking about how to revise my Act 1 chapters and I haven’t even finished writing new draft chapters for Act 2 or Act 3.
Go figure.
One of the craft books I got from the library, Writers Block and How to Use It by Victoria Nelson has been interesting reading. This particular quote stood out:
“Think of tapping your creative gifts as you would establish a relation with another person. If you try to possess or control that person, he or she will elude you; if you form a friendship based on mutual respect, over time, with love and patience, you can forge a secure bond.”
So maybe I should just get a grip and not be so hard on the progress of this novel. It’s obvious that I’m trying to control the outcome. So, I’m going to start to give my novel some respect and let it tell me where it wants to go. It may take me a much better place.
