Monday 25 May 2009

Getting back into it

So tonight I actually managed to kick this whole procrastination habit and do some writing on my novel for the first time in almost half a year. I'd been putting it off for long enough, with trying to figure out where it's going, then plotting that out, then trying to fill in the plot holes. There are still one or two gaps in the story, but rather than obsess over them I've decided to just jump back into things and worry about them at a later date.

I was worried that after so long I wouldn't be able to get back into the novel. Would I be able to remember my characters? The voice of my lead character? Why I'm writing it in the first place? It turned out to be not quite as hard as I thought it might be. A quick dream sequence with symbolism so obvious I feel like I'm cheating by calling it symbolism got me into the mindframe of my lead character, and then some banter between him and the other characters has reminded me what they're like. There's only been a little bit of plot progression, but I'm not that worried about that since it was more important that I got back into the swing of things. I've managed to write 1,217 words tonight, which isn't too bad seeing as it's my first night of real writing in months. There were a few extended periods where I got stuck and had to step away for a little while, and a couple of moments where I wondered why I was pretending I could do this, but that's to be expected.

I'm feeling pretty good about myself at this point. I've made a pretty good start on the second half of Running To Stand Still, now to continue on from that start.

2 comments:

  1. Hurrah! Well done Mr Skoot :) Getting back into the swing of things is hard, especially when, let's face it, writing can be really hard anyway. Good luck and happy scribbling

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  2. I have to say, in the years I have been a closet writer, the one thing I have learned is that if I walk away from something for a minimum of a week and come back to it, I can tweak it to perfection in no time. Its as if your brain has had time to work the ideas out and life has given you some perspective...

    Don't beat yourself up for not writing for a while!

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