I’m currently in a slump. The writing just doesn’t want to flow. I’m fumbling my way through possible plot twists, and they all propel the story forward – straight off a cliff. That’s the trouble with us discovery writers. We need to write in order to find out what happens next, and sometimes what happens next is just not very interesting.
It’s not like it’s the first time this has ever happened to me, and I’ve always found a way out of the slump. I know that I will this time, too. I trust the process. Sooner or later, the knot will unravel, and the story will flow again. Until then, though, until I finally have a valid idea, writing feels like treading water. I re-read and edit what I’ve already written. And when that doesn’t shake things loose, I graduate to productive procrastination.
The papers are all filed, the freezer is full of made-from-scratch meals, the laundry is done, and I even vacuumed recently. I’m focused and efficient in my day job. And I’m getting more serious about showing up on Twitter and keeping current with my musings. It’s pretty amazing what you can get done in the name of procrastination, and being on top of things feels good.
I’ve also been reading in my genre more than usual, and, apart from being very enjoyable, some “market research” is surely useful. But, really, I could do a lot better. I have plenty of editing to do. The latest round of feedback on a work in progress needs incorporating. A few darlings need murdering (or, rather, a few characters my protagonist has skillfully and gleefully murdered need to disappear from the story altogether). It’s not a huge rewrite. A week or two of consistent effort should do it, and since my writing-group is on hiatus for the summer, I’ve got the time.
Still, I catch myself procrastinating even on the editing. I’m not stuck on that at all. I know exactly what needs doing, but somehow I find excuses why I can’t start right now. Not enough uninterrupted time. The weather’s too nice. Or too bad. Something else is more urgent. More important. More enjoyable. Or, really, more comfortable. Unfortunately, though, it’s the uncomfortable tasks, the ones that are just slightly intimidating, that ultimately are the most rewarding. It is these that, looking back, you will be proud to have done.
It’s like when you re-read material you’ve already written and you’re just slightly awed that you wrote this. And yet, remember back when you first wrote it? Remember how much trouble that one scene gave you? How you had to sit with your own emotions in order to get the dialogue just right? Remember how uncomfortable that was? And yet you kept going until it wasn’t anymore. Until the log jam broke, and words started pouring onto the page. It’s an awesome feeling. It’s the feeling that keeps bringing me back to the page; the one that lets me persevere and weather the inevitable droughts. Because I remember what this almost effortless flow feels like, and striving to recreate it is what writing’s all about for me.
So enough with the procrastination already, however productive it may be. If inspiration is visiting, it better find me sitting at the computer, fingers poised over the keyboard.