Keep moving forward

Keep moving forward or as Dory says, "Keep on swimming." I submitted a manuscript on Monday night. It has been a crazy week and a bit stressful. However, I decided this afternoon that I would begin revising another manuscript I have in my catalog. I don't want to sit still. I don't want to be idle. I love writing and I want to do it forever. So I will take steps everyday to ensure that I can. 

Revision

I love John Steinbeck and this quote is so me! This quote also falls in line with my love for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The entire philosophy of NaNoWriMo is this quote exactly - write the entire story as quickly as possible without censure or revision. Then, once the first draft is complete, go back and revise.

I took what I already knew to be true for me and applied it to a short story I had running around in my head. I sat for my allotted writing time for a couple of days and wrote down the story in my head. Then I set it aside while I worked on other stuff. This week I brought the short story out again and I have been revising it. I'm going to go through it once more but I am finally coming to a happy place - or at least a place of understanding - with this story. 

It feels good to be revising. It feels even better to be taking steps forward. 

Burned Out

I am so burned out. For the past few days I have been sitting down to write fiction and nothing good comes out of me. I am starting to accept that I may need a break from the actual writing. Rather than feeling bummed out by this I feel relieved. I was thinking about this earlier tonight and began to feel really anxious. This is not the way I want to feel in regard to writing which is something I normally really love.

I’ve decided to cut myself a break and not force the fiction. I have still been writing each day but it has been more ponderings. I will still try to write something each day but I am going to focus my attention on revisions. It’s not my favorite part of the process but it is a necessary part. So, I am going to spend my daily writing time in revision. I’m sure this will put me back on track to writing new stories.

Plus, I have to admit that my attention has definitely turned to the holiday season. I have a few Christmas presents that I am making and want to finish up. There’s also the shopping, wrapping and baking to be done. There is decorating, too. That’s not to mention my family’s love of Christmas reading and movies. While all of this stuff is admittedly fun it is also time consuming. It’s all good, though. This is my favorite time of the year. It’s okay to take a break or shift some things on the priority list. What really matters, after, all, is friends and family. They’re the people who make life wonderful. Scheduling everything around them is perfectly all right with me.