I’m either late or early, depending on your perspective, but it’s been a month. September left me very little time for writing between a vacation and allergies, but these things will happen.
What’s on the agenda? Dave E Lish, of course. I launched Dave E Lish’s Beginner’s Guide to Evil through Mannison Press and I’m still ecstatic about it! It was a labor of love and to actually get it into print is something I’m still grinning over.
Pardon my small bout of strutting–it’s one of those good moments in writing and publishing, and I need to bask in it…
In addition to the book, I’ve also created some items on Zazzle to commemorate. Taking a twisted approach to Dave and his sense of humor, I thought it would be fun to create some merch. The theme, you ask? What Would Dave Do?
A SPECIAL THANKS goes out to Jack Crawford for helping me with my designs. He put some time into it for me!
A SPECIAL THANKS goes to Deidre Owen at Mannison for taking our attempts at design and tweaking them and cleaning them up! Much thanks!!!!!
Alright, back to writing. Yes, you will get those days and weeks and even months where no ideas are coming. I’ve talked about this before, but I stand by my previous words–don’t force it. If your creativity is at a lull, let it rest. Give your imagination time to refuel.
But you’re a writer–you’re supposed to write. Yes. However, athletes don’t train every day of the year (well there’s probably someone out there who does and I do not believe in absolute statements which is why I’m commenting 🙂 ). The point is not writing every day, but keeping to a regular schedule. If the words aren’t coming, transfer your focus to the other aspects of writing: looking for markets for your work, editing existing stories, joining writing groups for discussion and writing, and reading . . . just to name a few.
To my mind, it keeps you in the game and immersed in the writing world. Give your creative energies time to recharge and then jump back in. Just don’t let yourself get frustrated because your novel or short story ideas aren’t coming. They will. And they usually show up when you least expect it, so let the process work itself out on its own.
Chances are, you’re like me and you don’t fully understand the writing process either, so trying to control something you don’t fully understand is A) a waste of time, and B) possibly detrimental because you may end up sabotaging yourself.
Just breathe and live and let the stories come.
Hang in there,
Craig