Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
- Napoleon

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Being a Toad

I admit it. I've been a toad. I haven't written anything, edited anything or done anything really constructive for about a week. It's gotten to the point where I haven't even written a blog post since Saturday.

I haven't really put my finger on the cause of this whole lack of motivation, but I'm working on it. I mean, it's not like I haven't done anything at all. Just that I haven't done any writing work or housework. Most of last week was spent shoveling snow. (And the little voice at the back of my head says "Excuses, excuses, excuses".)

Part of the problem, and I'd like to think I'm not alone in this, is that I poured myself out into book three--working at a faster pace than usual--and now I've got the rather daunting task of editing ahead of me. (If you've ever tried to edit even a short piece, you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Now take that short piece and think of it in terms of almost 68,000 words.)

Maybe I'm making too much of this. It's not like I haven't edited two books already. Although, for some reason, this one seems harder. Perhaps it's because 'Blink' is a break away from my previous genres. The first two books were 'thrillers'. This one is a 'sci-fi'/literary. (Think Fahrenheit 451 or Anthem.)

I'll get back to it. Come to think of it, I gave myself a much longer simmer period for the first two books before I jumped into editing. Could be a case of pushing myself too hard, too fast.

I'll let you know how it goes from here.

1 comment:

Janimé said...

A toad? Not at all.

Sounds more like that temporary feeling of being overwhelmed that can come in between big tasks.

You know, when the next big task seems SO big, that it tires you out just thinking about it. (Well, this is what happens to me sometimes anyway).

You know what to do! Step back, take a deep breath, then break that big task down into little ones.

Happy editing!!