Hi ho, everyone.
Well, I’m back from Camp NaNoWriMo, and as the following graphic shows, I managed to scrape together enough words across four…I hesitate to call them ‘stories’ or ‘WIPs’. That feels like a far too generous use of those terms. They’re probably more like word depositories or something. But regardless of what they are called or should be called, I managed to deposit enough words into them to earn myself a win.
As you may remember from the first post of this past month’s Camp session (or could just tell from the above graphic), the theme for July was What If…, and was meant to be a month of experimentation surrounding my epic-ish fantasy series, The Coileáin Chronicles. If you didn’t catch that first post, here’s a quick recap: I remain unconvinced that what has already been written is working, so I endeavored to see what else I could try.
And though I wrote over 20,000 words, I’m not sure I came up with anything that’s any better than what already exists. I didn’t have any real “OMG! This the way!” moments or anything, so I’m not sure where that leaves me, except hanging around doing this:
Which means that the entire series is going to end up in the metaphorical drawer for a while. I hate the idea of doing this—the drawer is definitely not where I want these projects to be—but I’m at a bit of a dead end here, so until that changes, into the drawer the damn thing will go.
Here’s hoping it won’t stay there for long.
Let them simmer. Something may still come of those ideas.
I hope it doesn’t stay in the drawer for long! I totally get how getting stuck can stall a person out. But fingers crossed that it’ll return. It took 10 years for me. I hope it’s less for you.
That’s a shame, but it’s better than forcing something you’re not happy with. Hugs.
“Word depositories” is perfect for those things that are somewhere between notes and actual writing. Getting that far is great progress! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
Hopefully you find a place for your efforts.
It sounds like you do need to take a step away for a bit. I bet you’ll be surprised when you pick it up again how easy the solutions seem. But not yet. Not for a while. Let your subconscious work on it while your conscious mind works on something else.
I hate putting things in the drawer as well, but sometimes it’s exactly what my brain needs to figure it out. Hope that happens for you!
Sometimes the drawer is the best place for a while. Work on something else or try something creatively new to you (waiting, knitting, collage – anything) and you might find using a slightly different part of your creative brain unsticks things.
not the drawer!
that’s the pit of despair, the place where words go to die, the land of forgotten stories.. but your fantasy series will survive, it has to. it’s like the writing of it is its own saga!
and great that you wrote so much and keep writing! you are a true writer letting the words flow, which unfortunately also means you doubt yourself, like we all do!