I feel good about actually getting back to work on a collection of various short stories of mine that I wrote over the course of several years. Just the other day, I cranked out several pages of a story I'd all but forgotten about--one I'd begun one evening last fall. But like most things I do, the project is one of stops and starts and long days without writing anything! And I've never been able to figure out just why this is. One day, I'm completely enthused and more than eager to "pound the keys" of the trusty MacBook; other days, I can barely stand to think, much less write anything, about the current story I need to finish.
I've come up with all sorts of excuses--and, really, that's exactly what they are--to explain why my writing life is lacking a routine of regular discipline and concentrated effort. I realize, most frequently, that many stories could be completed, revised, and ready for publication had I but a bit more dedication to accomplishing my end goals. Instead, I slough off and push the manuscripts aside and dare them to complete themselves. Funny how that never really occurs! Then, after much passage of time, usually, I'll get an itch to get writing once more, and I'll somehow plod onward into my tale. I keep telling myself that these are just short stories and should be more manageable as compared to a full-blown novel, but my foot-dragging persists.
As it stands now, I have what I consider four pretty good stories (for me, that is!) and one or two more that will be included in my collected stories project. I'm hoping to publish them this summer and clear the way for my resumption of the sequel to my first book, Black Wolf Lodge. I do have several chapters "roughed" out for that, and I look forward to summer work and a disciplined regimen of daily work at the cottage on the lake "up there" in Michigan. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though, that I can avoid the dreaded stops and starts and frustrating foot-dragging!...MLA
I've come up with all sorts of excuses--and, really, that's exactly what they are--to explain why my writing life is lacking a routine of regular discipline and concentrated effort. I realize, most frequently, that many stories could be completed, revised, and ready for publication had I but a bit more dedication to accomplishing my end goals. Instead, I slough off and push the manuscripts aside and dare them to complete themselves. Funny how that never really occurs! Then, after much passage of time, usually, I'll get an itch to get writing once more, and I'll somehow plod onward into my tale. I keep telling myself that these are just short stories and should be more manageable as compared to a full-blown novel, but my foot-dragging persists.
As it stands now, I have what I consider four pretty good stories (for me, that is!) and one or two more that will be included in my collected stories project. I'm hoping to publish them this summer and clear the way for my resumption of the sequel to my first book, Black Wolf Lodge. I do have several chapters "roughed" out for that, and I look forward to summer work and a disciplined regimen of daily work at the cottage on the lake "up there" in Michigan. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though, that I can avoid the dreaded stops and starts and frustrating foot-dragging!...MLA
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