Or maybe it's the 'end of book slump'. Either way for the past few years it always seems to hit me around about this time. I get to where I don't feel like writing. I don't feel like editing. Hell, I barely feel like reading. (And blogging? Fugetaboutit.)
Right now I've got RTL almost in the can. I'm about this close. (You'll just have to imagine me holding my fingers about a micron apart.) I'm just waiting on my CP to give me her thoughts on the rest of the book and on the synopsis. I even think I've got a pretty nifty query ready to go. But I'm dead in the water.
I've got some great ideas on how to finish my WIP. They're all written down so I don't forget them, and I'm ready to move ahead on it. Except I can't seem to get motivated to do so.
Writers write. Professional writers write every day (or at least most every day - they're not machines). Not writing makes me feel like a hack. But I can't seem to get back into the swing on it lately. How professional is it when this malaise hits me every damn year?
Seriously. What happens if I finally get a contract and deadlines and stuff, only the timeframe encompasses this part of the year? "Ahem, sorry Random House, but February and March are bad months for me. Can you hold production until I get my head out of my ass?" Ya, right.
I think I just need to slap myself around. Maybe all I need a good ol' fashioned kick in the hiney. Trust me. Just thinking about presuming to put off a publisher because I'm not feeling like writing :insert whine here: is nearly enough to send me scrambling for my notes. "You need to write whether you feel like it or not, ya big baby. Now drop and give me 1500 words!" (The voice in my head sounds like a cross between that overzealous Marine ghost in The Frighteners and the barbarians in The Thief and the Cobbler. What can I say?)
Anyway, I don't know if I'm cured this year or not. Sometimes just putting it into words shakes it loose, but I know it'll be back again next year. End of winter seems to do this to me. I guess I just need to remind myself next year to give myself an end of winter slap to cure the end of winter slump.
Tell me: Do you notice a pattern to your writing throughout the year? Other than this slumpy thing, I seem to be very productive from September to December. Do you have more productive and less productive times of year, or am I just weird?
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4 comments:
I wonder if you have that winter thing whose name I can't remember and am too lazy to google. Seasonal depression or something. I used to feel like that, so I moved to Florida. Am fine now. Try that.
...no?
Then maybe there's a clinic in your town with artificial sunlight. I don't know if your city is big enough for that. My grandma has this condition (and refuses to move to Florida) so the doctors gave her this kind of heat-lamp-ish thing to use for something like 30 min a day. You sit there and warm light falls across your face, just like the sun. It tricks your body into that same happy feeling you get when spring/summer is finally here.
Just a thought...
It's called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I've seen that before. Heck, I might've had that when I lived in MI. That's part of the reason I moved to FL, too. MI winters are just gross. CO winters aren't so bad out here on the plains. The thing about this is, it doesn't happen until after the snow seems to stop, and it only affects my writing. *shrug* Thanks for the thought, Erica. I'm fine now. Like I said, I usually get over it once I slap myself around. =oD
I've been feeling exactly the same way of late. I'm a visual artist, though, not a writer, but it's like I have no drive to do anything meaningful at all. I even caught myself doing paperwork, math for the love of Pete, yesterday as an excuse to stay out of my studio! I have no idea what to do about it though...
I like your blog - I think your "Stalking the Feeder" post applies to a lot of creative types.
Thanks for stopping by Tania. I hope your blahs end soon. Personally, I gave myself permission to take a break and while I'm still not writing, I feel loads better.
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