There are days when writing feels like the most sublime of ecstatic exaltations; others when endeavoring to fill the blank monitor screen (or naked notebook page) feels like a trudge through the Slough of Despond.

For myself, here in early December 2013, I’m happy to report that daily fiction writing has become a steadying, workmanlike, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other process. I look forward to it. I don’t panic. I hit my daily sentence quota and stop, satisfied and re-energized for other tasks. My daily output is extremely modest but regular (and low-drama) and I get the work done. I work a full-time, regular job so I don’t demand reams of new manuscript from myself on a weekly basis.

How is the writing going for you? All highs and no lows? Perhaps the exact opposite: all frustration and horror; consternation and dismay. Or is your experience these days similar to mine?

Tell! Dash off a few lines and share your thoughts with your fellow practitioners of the craft.

You’re not alone, whatever your current thoughts and feelings on the matter; I assure you. It just feels that way when you’re doing the work . . . 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/6/2013, 3:06 PM--

On the hopeful scale, I'm about a six and a half. I've solved one big problem, I have a new opening chapter, much more active. I have other new ideas, to which announcement everyone who knows me invariably responds, uh, oh. 

.

My latest fancy requires me to do some research on baptism, and I'm sure I'll work my way into other areas of church teaching as well. My yo-yo king, knowing that Sly is about to head north, is frantic to get him baptized, in case the worst should come to pass in a cold, cruel world. He understands, or convinces himself, got to figure that out, that the only requirement for a valid bestowment of the sacrament is that an individual is able to affirm faith, which the animal is well able to do. If he wants to. Needless to say, merriment ensues.

.

I'm up, I'm down, but the trajectory is headed in the right direction.

Sounds interesting, Mimi! The work continues apace, eh?

Let's hope we hear from others, and that we get a nice "all-in", cross-talk conversation going.

Lurkers--you know who you are!--this is your chance; you can't say anything "wrong" because there is no "wrong" in a discussion like this.

Jump right in; the water's fine!

I have to feel pretty good about it right now. We were at a social event on Thursday evening and two people told me how much they liked my first book of short stories. I told them that my second book, with better stories, would be available within a week. The first copies of the book arrived on Friday, and it looks good. Now I have to move into marketing mode.

I write for a couple of local publications. There's no money in it (maybe movie tickets or a bottle of wine occasionally), but it is another validation that I kinda know what I'm doing, and it has taught me to write to deadline.

I'm working on several more short stories and a novel. For these I don't have any expectations for word count per week. I just write when it feels right. I have a deadly long commute to the day job, and during the commute I will write scenes and chapters in my head, and put them on a page when I make the time. If it was a chore I wouldn't do it.

I don't suppose I'll ever become rich doing this, but it has brought me some new friends, and for that I am grateful.

--edited by Perry on 12/7/2013, 7:40 AM--

@Perry: Thanks for chiming in! Congratulations all around, sounds like you're writing up a storm out there, in uh . . . where the hell are you?!

In any event: second book of short stories coming out, working on a novel, writing a local column--buddy, you're a pro. Let's hear more from you on these boards!

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/8/2013, 12:46 AM--

Carl,

Thanks for the comments. I live in Northwestern Wisconsin on seventeen acres, which is mostly pasture for the horses. I commute to downtown Minneapolis, which is worlds away from where I live.

I'm not writing up a storm, but I'm lucky to have found an appreciative niche. I know fine writers, people who write better than me, who have not found an audience or an outlet.

I'm learning some things from reading the discussion boards, and I write a comment from time to time. I've read a few books but have not reviewed them. I don't know if I'll ever workshop a draft.

I'll be writing for as long as I can hold a pencil or manage a keyboard. Sometimes I'll be writing slowly, but I'll be writing. I've come to Book Country to learn to do better, and I always want my next story to be my best one.

Perry

Honestly...kinda blah.  (Not the most eloquent wording, I know, but it fits.)  I'm blocked on all my works in progress except my new blog and some recent Brotherhood of the Black Flag tune-ups and revisions.  I haven't written so much as a word on any of them for months - maybe even longer.  Between that and other time commitments (two jobs, family obligations, stuff like that), I'm wondering if I'm ever going to have time to finish any of the other books, even if I do get the ideas and inspiration I need.

--edited by Ian Nathaniel Cohen on 12/9/2013, 4:35 PM--

@Perry: Howdy, neighbor! You're just a bit north of me then, as I currently reside in the great gangster metropolis of Chicago. I respect your attitude re: "I'll be writing for as long as I can hold a pencil or manage a keyboard." Amen, brother!

@Ian: Yeah, I've been there. Two things: (1) Exhaustion makes everything a thousand times more difficult; I can well understand how you've no enthusiasm for the craft when you're struggling to keep your eyes open. (2) It does seem like you're writing: you mention updating your blog and doing re-writes of Brotherhood of the Flag. (Great title, that!) Perhaps you're being too hard on yourself? Sounds like you're doing everything you realistically can, given your work and family responsibilities. Keep that notebook and pen handy and write "in the nooks and crannies of life", as the cliche goes. And know this: I have tremendous respect for someone like you, who's struggling to get the words down on paper (or screen) while working the 'ole nine-to-five followed by the ole' six-to-midnight. What you do is exponentially more difficult than some modern equivalent of the ruffle-shirted romantic poet, mooning all night at his writing table while scritch-scritching out a couple of opium-inspired phrases, knowing all the while he's living off the trust fund.

Have you read (or recently re-read) Ray Bradbury's Zen In the Art of Writing? I prescribe 2-4 pages daily; to be taken as needed. You will be inspired!

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/11/2013, 3:34 AM--

I am exhausted today. Really exhausted. I'm writing that baptism section, Carl. I'm trying to make the logic of the back-and-forth conversation work. It's good, but it has to be perfect. Then, as usual, I've got to try to get more activity into it. Most of you want activity for the sake of moving the story forward. I want activity for a change of pace. I mostly break it up with my Intrusive Author commentary. I'm trying to ditch that habit. It's damn hard. And, as usual, the incident has gotten away from me. I have way too much to say on the matter - for anyone but me.

.

I'm a bit depressed, but I'll get over it.

Oh, Mimi! Don't be depressed. A wise writer once gave me good advice, which is to write for yourself first. Just get it out! Don't feel bad, it's essential. Then revise later. But don't beat yourself up for putting whatever words you can down--something important is happening in that first draft (and second, and third, and fourth . . .)

What do you mean when you say "intrusive author commentary"?

I, the author, often break into a scene and add my two cents. I give information, for instance, that Sly is not aware of. I've used it at least one time to joke about the fact that I don't know what happens next, and I - snap of the fingers - whisk the reader to another location, promising to pick up the troublesome passage when I figure it out.

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I use Jane Austen's 'dear reader' gambit to change the rhythm of the narrative, to make jokes (is this a wise thing to do, Sly?) and to jump around and not have to do it in any disciplined way. An intrusive voice gives me carte blanche to do just about anything. Intrusive means never having to say you're sorry.

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In Victorian times it was used regularly. It's now out of fashion. But, that's the way my story tumbles onto the page. It's the way I think. 

--edited by Mimi Speike on 12/12/2013, 2:19 PM--

I think that sounds pretty cool!

Also, I've found that oversharing in my drafts--giving an infodump even though I know it's not going to be compelling for the reader--is helpful, because that's how I make decisions about what I want to be true in the story. You can dial them back later. I use this as way to figure out the details of the story or the backstory. I tried "prewriting" this information and that just wasn't comfortable or fruitful for me, so now this is how I work.

I would say: just keep going, whatever you do! (That's what I have to say to myself while I write, in order to not backtrack and end up with no progress.)

Yes, I have actually gone back and deleted some of that stuff, though anyone who has read my thing will find that hard to believe. Some I've kept. I don't rule out dumping more of it at some point, and - if only e-books had the capability of footnotes or side bars - I am seriously thinking of having chapter notes, segregating non-essential information in sections that no one has to slog through, unless they want to. 

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I'll label the material clearly: 'Don't Read This, unless you love ditzy, useless information.' Or something of the sort.

.

I'll be having disclaimers also: I lifted this shipboard routine from Two Years Before The Mast. What do I know about ships? Nothing! Sure, it was written two hundred years after my period, but, what the hell. It sounds good, doesn't it? Don't nit-pick, eh? I'm doing my best.

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In the back of the book I'll list all the sources I can recall that I may have plagiarized historical information from. It won't be easy, I have thousand of books, history, biography, historical novels, many a novel in which a turn of phrase caught my eye. Should I list them all? No, that's insane.

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I've been taking notes for thirty years, and since I never believed this could get published, until the last five or so years I never jotted attributions. I'll do a general CYA statement, make it part of the joke, and hope it serves.

.

Hell! I never believed that it would get finished. I'm cautiously optimistic. If I have an unlikely success, make big money, get sued, what do I care? I'll be long dead. I'm sixty-seven. And I'll have had my fun. And I never did this except for the fun. I started it on a lark, and couldn't stop. And I defy anyone to claim that I haven't made it my own. 

--edited by Mimi Speike on 12/12/2013, 4:46 PM--

Oh Theresa! We all feel like this. I do, regularly. Nobody gets lower than I do sometimes. If you have to write, you will. 

.

Just this week I wrote a new section. I read it over and said, wow! this is great stuff. A day later I read it and said, this is crap, total garbage. On the third day, after a few tweaks, I was back to great stuff. We're here to talk each other through the black moods. 

UPDATE! I have decided to finish out my major editorial scribblings so I can get them entered into the computer and thrown up on here. I know I still need to do a line edit, but that will be so much easier after all the work I did. I've had a new fire lit under my ass, and I'm raring to go. I've only got 7 more left. I want to have them up here in two weeks, but we'll see how fast I can get my formatting fixed. Google docs screwed it all up, and now I have to fix my compiled draft. I've got it mostly worked out, but it's still going to take some time.

I also have notes for a superhero novel. They're quite more extensive than I thought when I looked over them the other day. I'm really excited for this project. I plan it to be a stand alone. If Hands doesn't get me in the door, hopefully my superhero will.

1. Theresa: Being discouraged and down on yourself grants you membership in the international order of anguished writers who have no idea where their next word is coming from. We know how you feel; we've all been there from time to time. The very act of writing releases both the angels of joy and the demons of sorrow from the pith of our beings. Were it otherwise, you'd be only typing. I suspect that you fear going into that deep place where creation dwells, where the admixture of elation and grief simmers. But go you must; otherwise you'd spend the rest of your days regretting you lacked the audacity to apotheosize your Muse when the fire of youth gave you not a moment of peace. Whatever is keeping you from expressing yourself, put you head in a book, not the oven. Find inspiration from.one who has waded in that daunting pool of creation. Sink deeper into yourself and joyfully embrace the creative powers that when unreleased will leave you perpetually unfulfilled. Then, welcome to the club. Write yourself a wonderful book.

Theresa, all the more reason to cling to your writing dreams. I've been writing for thirty five years. I never had serious hopes of being published until recently, with the arrival of the internet and the advent of self-publishing. Despite years of discouragement, I aspire to be the new century's Amanda McKittrick Ros, a figure of fun, writing truly oddball material but read, even admired, by a few loopy souls (I'm one of them).

.

Yeah, I know there were vanity presses, way too expensive for most of us. My father paid ten thousand dollars thirty years ago to publish his autobiography. So he said. He was known to exaggerate. And the internet makes it way easier to market your book. He peddled his through the Swiss-American Society. He was a Swiss immigrant. He sold a few, gave most away.

.

Did anyone ever tell you this was going to be easy? He/she wasn't a writer. Right, guys?

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--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/5/2014, 7:19 PM--

You are sweet. I'm an old crank, I'm afraid. Sixty-seven years old. And an introvert, really nonverbal if I'm not in the mood to talk, which is not all that often. The people I work with would be shocked to know how jovial I can be in print. OK, they have a hint of it, like when I discussed my very latest idea, the B/M Miss Spider, eating up her paramour after the act, written in light-hearted verse and illustrated in the style of the Miss Spider books. (I'm a graphic artist)

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My co-workers think I'm a nut-case. Well, I am!

.

Part of my refusal to join in the conversation at work is, I'm just not fascinated by what's on sale at Shop-Rite, or what happened on some dumb-ass TV show. If someone would want to talk about books, or writing, that would be a whole different ballgame.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/6/2014, 6:11 PM--

Are you reading anything right now?  I just finished memoirs by Graham Nash and Linda Ronstadt.  I was very disappointed in both books, but since I got them at the library, I'm not out any money.

I'm always reading half a dozen books at the same time. I'm in the middle of Hopscotch, Wool, a biography of John Dee (research for my own story), Being Cool, (a biography of Elmore Leonard) among others. I'm going to start Lily's Christian Astrology after my husband is done with it (also research for my book. It's a seventeenth century work.) And I have my eye on a biography of Anthony Burgess, at work. I'll grab it as soon at the cover is scanned, for the e-book in progress. (I work for a compositor.)  I have books bookmarked at where I left off all over the place.

.

My husband and I are both book nuts. Our house is a disaster, books everywhere, thousands of them. In boxes, waiting to have a spot found for them. In piles. We've nearly run out of wall space for bookshelves. Every flat surface has its stack of books. 

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As for money spent, hit the library sales. We have three big sales here each summer. I get great stuff for a dollar or two. How do you think I afford - literally - several thousand books, even though I've got them over forty years? I've never made decent money myself. For years I worked two jobs. You're not alone.

.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/7/2014, 11:37 AM--

Carl: It's hard to feel good about your writing when your book is reviewed by an assassin posing as a reviewer. I saw your story as a parody but you had not the vision, nor the generosity, to view mine likewise. If you had fully read The Commercial you would have been impressed by the paradigm shift rendered at the denouement. I hope your vituperative scalding of my book was not a warning that I dare not tread on your alpha male feet. At any rate, I've removed the dagger from my back and, paraphrasing that wonderful ending of Gatsby, "Tomorrow I will run faster, stretch out my arms farther....and one fine morning---"

DJS: First off, please understand that when I review a book, I give as honest and generous and direct (and hopefully, helpful) a review as possible. My liking, or disliking, or neutral feelings regarding the writer do not enter into the process at all. I try to be as objective and fair-minded as possible. 

Having said that, I stand behind every word of the review I wrote. We are asked to review not the writer, but the manuscript before us. Moreover, the nibs (formerly stars) represent how close we feel the book is to being published.

I recognized your manuscript as parody, albeit of an especially lurid, chauvinistic and shock-for-shock's sake tone. You worked hard for that effect; you achieved it. I stripped paragraphs of direct quotes from my review because--here's the interesting part--I didn't want to be seen as "piling on" or being unnecessarily harsh. I had no desire to grind your face, so to speak, into the words you had written. 

If you take a deep breath and think about what I said and why I said it you may decide, in the future, to make revisions to this particular piece of literary fiction. Or not. I respect every writer's choices, including yours. But a review is not about you, it is about the interaction of reader and manuscript: the intensely personal, idiosyncratic and out-of-authorial-control reaction the writer's "out-in-the-world" words have when running through another's consciousness. 

I gave you my opinion and indicated ways to improve the manuscript; no doubt you will hear from others. It is very possible that I am wrong and have missed the point entirely. If so, I stand unmasked as an aesthetically-retarded, tin-eared, unhelpful reviewer. That possibility always exists; an uneasy, restless part of my mind finds itself simpatico with you there!

There is a definite upside to this discussion: You will drive others to your manuscript, a proportion of whom will also read and comment on it. It is a work in progress. I wish you all the best with this particular piece of work. 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/9/2014, 4:41 PM--

Carl is right, his review, your response, and his follow-up will land you on many to read lists. I will look at it this weekend.

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I hope it is a solid piece of black humor. and that it is as thoughtful and beautifully written as your comments in the discussions.

I will read your book with an open mind and, although I am aquiet-living old lady, sixty-seven, I knew that seamy side of life for many years, making costumes for strippers, go-go dancers, and drag queens, among others. I lived with them, partied with them, they were my best friends. Nothing that you have to say will shock me in terms of content. I will only be perturbed by a lack-luster prose style, which I do not expect to get out of you. But, on the storytelling, I won't be cutting you any breaks. And I know you don't expect any.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/9/2014, 6:22 PM--

DJS: We are at risk of turning this entire thread into a discussion of your novel. Very well; let's do so. I hope it will prove productive and constructive for all concerned.

I honor you for putting the words down on paper. (As I honor and applaud, in the abstract, any writer who accomplishes what you did--the completion of a substantively-sized manuscript.) Writing well is difficult and exhausting work. It is evident that you poured an inordinate amount of time and effort into this particular work. Your summation of plot and theme piques interest.  But those facts--alas!--are no guarantee of aesthetically-pleasing results.

I did read your last chapter. It (in my opinion) does not adequately explain, redeem or "context reset" all that has come (no pun intended) before. (And anyway: How many readers made it to the end of Bret Easton Ellis's critically-acclaimed American Psycho? The risk of choosing especially lurid and/or violent material is that you may very well drive your readers away long before they reach your twist ending. Accolades and condemnation both are hurled at the professional working writer, DJS. For even the greatest, on the best of days, it must seem that they arrive in equal measure. You've got to learn to take the "thumbs-down" criticism--though it hurts--with as much professionalism and courtesy as you can reasonably muster. I've taken my share of 1-star/nib/quill [whatever] reviews on BC and will no doubt take more.)    

Any material can work. Any tone can work. The writer--in this case, you--produced a manuscript that didn't work for me. Or certain others. That is all that happened here.  

Let me share with you a little further insight into goings-on behind the scenes as concerns your novel. I discussed you and this particular manuscript with the acquisitions editor of a major US publisher yesterday at lunch. (When you post on Book Country your manuscript is seen by many professional eyes across the spectrum of the industry, probably far more than you realize.) His comment to me about your manuscript: "I couldn't get past the first page." Understand that he was reading as a fan of weird genre and lurid literary fiction at that point.

And that's how it goes. Editors don't read to accept; they read to reject. And as Jay Greenstein (gotta give props to that man) recently pointed out in one of his postings, readers don't primarily read for story or character or any of the other myriad reasons they say they do, they read for the moment-to-moment aesthetic pleasure an authorial voice gives them. 

Brutal truth: You don't have to eat the whole cake to know that the cake is bad. I gave you pointed advice and focused suggestions on how to improve (in my opinion) your manuscript; you are free to implement, moderate or discard them as you see fit. But you cannot bleat at readers (paying or otherwise) that: "But you didn't read the whole story/epic poem/novel! No fair! It all comes out right/explained/re-contextualized in the end!"

Yes, very fair. Eminently fair. 

Let's review: You, the writer, get up before an audience and demand that they give you their time and money, the most precious and limited resources they have. In return all they want is everything: the best you've got. And you know what? That's exactly what they deserve.The trick--the hard, hard trick--is to keep them with you till the end.

Our job as writers is to hone our craft as best we can so that we are capable of attracting, and holding, that audience. If our prose is unwieldy, unclear, inexact or otherwise deficient there's no use beating up the reader; all the venom in the world squirted in that direction won't improve a particular manuscript one iota. Also--all books are not for all people. If you really and truly feel that you have been misread or unjustly critiqued the best response to that reader/reviewer is a shoulder-shrug, a couple of brief (non-hostile or defensive) expository sentences or follow-up questions and a polite thank-you. Then move on. They didn't "get" you; their loss. Keep working; next project. You'll show them! Never, ever give anyone the power to demotivate or discourage you from improving your craft.

You implied that because you gave one of my stories a positive review you were somehow owed a positive review in return. That is not how it works. If I did that I would be a glad-handing literary whore, a compliment-grubbing hack. I would be engaging in a honeyed, subtle form of belittlement: patronization. 

This is the bind any working writer on BC runs into: If you don't review the person who reviewed you, you're clearly a selfish, ungenerous, leeching mooch sucking up other's time and energy. If you do return a review--and that review is perceived by the outraged writer as falling short of all-out validation and enthusiastic applause--then you're unmasking yourself as a chortling, mustache-twirling "book assassin", with nothing better to do with your own time than expend countless hours of it reading and reviewing and responding to other's work.

Never again. In the future I will give my review, respond to a follow-up question or two and then silence myself. I will refer all other similarly outraged and/or angry and/or disgruntled writers to this posting for a more in-depth response. I've got my own work to do and a limited amount of time to do it.

Because here's the thing, DJS: I did not seek you out and force my criticism upon you. You found me. Moreover, you posted your work in a public, semi-professional forum and asked the world at large: "Tell me what you think." 

Is it validation or honest, constructive criticism that you're after? If it's validation--you had that from me the moment you sat down to write. Secret handshake, imitative bird call, triple-hug--you're in the club! But if you ask me for an honest opinion of your work--well, you're gonna get that too. Because anything less would sell you short; it would make a mockery of your efforts and ambition and waste your time. 

Be well! Be working. Becalm yourself and bestride your own little corner of the literary cosmos like a colossus.  

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/11/2014, 10:28 AM--

I'm feeling quite good at the moment.  I haven't made as much progress as I would like on revisions to my novel, in part because I still feel like I'm settling back in to normal life after my mercifully brief encounter with unemployment over the summer.  It's amazing how much being laid off sticks with you.

In any case, the revisions I have made are going as well as can be expected, and I've gotten some extremely good feedback on a short *cough*fanfic*cough* story that I did about a year ago.  It's obviously a very different type of writing from a novel in a unique world, but it's always nice to have a little validation that the work was well-received for what it is.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/27/2014, 4:41 AM--

Excellent topic!

 I'm feeling good about my writing right now. The plot is coming together and I have a good idea of my characters' motivations  (although they still tend to surprise me.)

Writing is and probably always will be an up and down challenge for me. Certain essential chapters become drudgery. Some days I write myself into a corner. Other times, a plot point that seems like a stretch becomes reasonable with just a minot tweak.

Generally speaking, I keep an even keel when it comes to writing. Extreme lows and highs about my progress tend to hurt my writing more than help it.

Good luck and keep plugging at it!

Yeah! Go, LeeAnna!!

--edited by Lucy Silag on 1/27/2014, 9:59 AM--

Way to go, LeeAnna! I need to check out that new draft.

PS. I just published "Not A Vampire" as a .99 title. Your comments and encouragement helped make it happen, way back when. (Remember?) Nice to see you still actively writing and posting on Book Country! Endurance and persistence are under-valued but hypercritical assets to any working writer.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/29/2014, 12:12 PM--

@Lucy: How is your writing coming along? Or as the thread asks: How do you feel about your own writing, right now?

Inquiring minds and all that . . .

@Carl: Angsty!

I have been neglecting my writing since the new year and I feel terrible about it. I know I feel happier and more sane when I spend time writing, even if that writing never sees the light of day. If I really, really don't feel like I am in the headspace to write, reading helps. And yet I feel like I haven't really immersed myself in either activity in about a month, mostly just because I've been goofing off, watching Netflix, or, well, working.

I was actually just moaning to Nevena abt this last night, LOL.

Anyway, my plan is to remedy this this weekend. What I have a feeling I will end up doing is writing by hand in a notebook to start--that's usually my little trick to ease myself back into a writing project. For some reason that makes the stakes feel lower and less intimidating. Then I make a little deal with myself that I am just going to transcribe the writing to the doc. I invariably end up editing what I handwrote as I type it out, and then that usually gets me adding onto it, and then I get back into a groove.

There! Now you all know all my secrets!

Sorry, Carl, you probably didn't want a dissertation on the subject, but you DID ask  . . . 

Thanks for asking, BTW! Feels good to share, haha.

--edited by Lucy Silag on 1/29/2014, 3:51 PM--

That's not a dissertation! That's a couple of tightly-focused, cogent paragraphs of import and relevance to most of us struggling with our self-imposed MDSQs (pronounced "mid-sicks": Mandatory Daily Sentence Quotas).

May I share with you my secret of overcoming writer's resistance? It was a multi-step, decades-long process of cinderblock-to-the-head self-discovery and rueful revelation. Points are as follows:

(1) I love the process of having written (or re-writing early drafts). But the process of actually perpetrating that first abominable draft? Not so much.

(2) My MDSQ--till recently--was always too high. So of course I couldn't stick to it. After a couple of exhausting weeks of straining my brain to produce voluminous output (upon returning home from working a full-time job) I would find myself avoiding the entire process. Missed MDSQs went on for days, weeks, months--years. Until . . .

(3) . . . I finally learned the secret to producing a steady flow of on-going creative writing. Paradoxically, the secret is this: If you would write more, write less. Hemingway figured this out. He would stop writing mid-sentence and resume the next day just where that broken-off sentence lay mid-page. In so doing he tricked his own mind into overcoming writer's resistance: Hey, writing isn't that difficult! You know how this sentence ends! What fun! Let's go on for another paragraph or two . . .  He didn't exhaust his own reserves of writing energy but rather broke off just before that point, leading to a self-inflicted itch that was scratched the next day--when he completed the sentence and resumed writing. Clever dog!

(4) There are only two kinds of writers: (a) those who are prolific, and (b) those who are not. I am in the "not prolific" category--along with many other writers. There is no third category: writers who don't write. People who don't write are, ermm . . . not writers. They may be wonderful, loving, kind, decent, intelligent human beings but clearly, if they're not writing--not writers. I want to be a writer. So I write. Simple--and difficult!--as that.

A four-point response. Weird number. It should be three, or five, or ten, right? Well, all I have is four. Sorry, Lucy! Others will have to help us out . . .

Good luck with your writing!

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/30/2014, 1:55 AM--

Ah, Carl. I'm sitting here the sniffles, a sore throat, and itchy eyes (just that fun winter cold that's going around) . . . I could be ending my workday on a bummer note, but luckily before I logged out of BC I saw this note from you. Way to help me turn that around!

Thanks for advice, and you know, your four point plan seems like it just might work. Can I start tomorrow, though?

"Not prolific."  Ahem. Says the man with *four* books published on BC.

Thanks, Carl!

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I urge you--write today!--though it be only one sentence. (Or if you're reading this tomorrow, start then.) 

Whatever day you return to the work of writing, I suggest the following day you write two sentences. The third day, three. The fourth . . .

If you don't write that single sentence it's another day gone by where Resistance has conquered, see? You go to bed wondering: Will I get up tomorrow and be able to write? I couldn't today; why should tomorrow be any different? I have a lot of chores and work-related tasks to do. To say nothing of distracting entertainments to indulge in. It makes much more sense to wait for the weekend; I'll have more time then . . .

Resistance is a cunning, evil, entropic enemy. Did I mention relentless? It hates you. It doesn't want you to succeed. It is the mocking voice of every negative person who ever set out to erode your self-esteem or belittle your talent and accomplishments. And rest assured that Resistance will use every nasty, underhanded trick in the book to stop you from writing--be it only a single sentence. 

"What the hell is one sentence?" Resistance mocks. (Everything, when measured against zero productive output. Consider: the difference between zero and 1 is an increase of 100%, is it not?)

"Who is this moron offering advice?" Resistance sneers. (Resistance would prefer you focus not on the words but the person: an ad hominem attack.)

"When has starting slow and small lead to bigger and greater things?" Resistance guffaws. (Almost always and everywhere, eh? Big things come from small beginnings. But Resistance hopes it can cloud your perception and judgement long enough to keep you paralyzed with indecision and doubt.) 

Resistance is a right bastard (as the English might say). So I urge: Give Resistance the finger! Kick it in the balls! Grab its spiny-haired goblin ears and introduce its sneering face to your fast-rising knee! 

Write one sentence--today. Tomorrow, write two. Next day, three . . .

In no time at all you'll have a completed work to show, revise and publish. (Perhaps not necessarily in that order . . .) 

Get well soon, champ! You gotta lotta writing to do. (In small, easy-to-accomplish productive bursts, of course.)

PS. I edited the hell out of this post. The first version was awful! But if I didn't commit that first public face-plant, I'd have nothing to successively (I didn't say successfully, heh!) revise. 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/30/2014, 1:50 AM--

Thanks, Lucy! Actually, my published number has risen: "A Matter of Displacement" hit Amazon.com (and other on-line publishers) today; "Not A Vampire" (LeeAnna helped with that one way back when) will show up in the next day or so. That makes six tales I've workshopped and published through Book Country to date.

More to come! (I hope . . .)

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 1/30/2014, 1:19 AM--

As for the new draft, I'll start screaming from the heavens when it's up. I just finished the last chapter today, and now I have to put 28 - 35 into the computer. Then I have to read all 2k words to fix any minor typing error and repair the formatting that Google docs effed up. It's really frustrating. And grinding. Makes me want to cry.

On a higher note, once I'm done with that I'm going to research agents, put together my query letter, and write my synopsis. Oh, joy. I feel a sequel on the way.

--edited by LeeAnna Holt on 1/30/2014, 9:07 PM--