My book reviewer suggested that I take a one-month break from Duality, my Thanksgiving novella-in-progress, because “this is a complex plot that your subconscious needs to work on for a while.” It’s sound advice that made sense. I usually take a break in between drafts of my works-in-progress to give them time to “breathe” so I can see what needs to be fixed, and the concept of allowing my subconscious to work on the evolving plot made perfect sense. The problem is, it made sense to my conscious mind, and it turns out that this side of the brain isn’t done wrestling with it.
That’s the mind of a writer. Ten tabs open, all running processes, and music is playing from somewhere. Shutting down all of that, especially after publishing Broken Time, is difficult enough. Shoving the genie back in the bottle to work is another difficult task. The human mind isn’t always our friend, and sometimes it won’t cooperate. No wonder it’s taking so long for us to make progress in the field of mental health. For all of the eons of evolution we have, we’ve also developed some amazing defense mechanisms to keep us in forms of denial that stick us in places we don’t always want to be in.
What to do? It’s like meditating: the harder you try not to think about it, the more you think about it. Or that sunburn I got after our beach trip a few weeks ago that I had to fight to keep from scratching and picking at it. It hurt! And so does letting go of this precious manuscript that I know needs more work! I want it just right before I lay it aside, and yet laying it aside is the very thing it needs to get that work done.
I thought the post publication crash from Broken Time would help. That usually drives me into writer’s block, but not this time (of course). I thought that the cold that knocked me out over the weekend might also help but alas, being too sick and exhausted to do much of anything only lent my mind more energy to keep spinning it around in my brain. Another thing about a writer’s brain: when you can’t do, you think.
Well, crap. How am I supposed to let this go so my muse can work on it in the depths of unknown creative space?
A friend recently asked me how to overcome writer’s block, so I decided to take my own advice to let it go and focus on other things for a while. I usually turn more attention to my daily routine and activities when I’m looking for other ideas to break the block and restore the creative well. I suppose that could work here too. I do, after all, need to stop pushing, release it, and give it space to grow.
We’ll see how it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to find other ways to stop picking at it. Maybe that Nyquil I bought at the pharmacy on my lunch break will help. It should help clear up this cold, at least, and I won’t be lying awake wondering how to manage all ten tabs spinning to fix this manuscript if I’m knocked out by the cure for nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching – you get the idea.
That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.
Bye!
That’s the mind of a writer. Ten tabs open, all running processes, and music is playing from somewhere. Shutting down all of that, especially after publishing Broken Time, is difficult enough. Shoving the genie back in the bottle to work is another difficult task. The human mind isn’t always our friend, and sometimes it won’t cooperate. No wonder it’s taking so long for us to make progress in the field of mental health. For all of the eons of evolution we have, we’ve also developed some amazing defense mechanisms to keep us in forms of denial that stick us in places we don’t always want to be in.
What to do? It’s like meditating: the harder you try not to think about it, the more you think about it. Or that sunburn I got after our beach trip a few weeks ago that I had to fight to keep from scratching and picking at it. It hurt! And so does letting go of this precious manuscript that I know needs more work! I want it just right before I lay it aside, and yet laying it aside is the very thing it needs to get that work done.
I thought the post publication crash from Broken Time would help. That usually drives me into writer’s block, but not this time (of course). I thought that the cold that knocked me out over the weekend might also help but alas, being too sick and exhausted to do much of anything only lent my mind more energy to keep spinning it around in my brain. Another thing about a writer’s brain: when you can’t do, you think.
Well, crap. How am I supposed to let this go so my muse can work on it in the depths of unknown creative space?
A friend recently asked me how to overcome writer’s block, so I decided to take my own advice to let it go and focus on other things for a while. I usually turn more attention to my daily routine and activities when I’m looking for other ideas to break the block and restore the creative well. I suppose that could work here too. I do, after all, need to stop pushing, release it, and give it space to grow.
We’ll see how it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to find other ways to stop picking at it. Maybe that Nyquil I bought at the pharmacy on my lunch break will help. It should help clear up this cold, at least, and I won’t be lying awake wondering how to manage all ten tabs spinning to fix this manuscript if I’m knocked out by the cure for nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching – you get the idea.
That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.
Bye!
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