Wherein there is good news and bad

[marycrawford]

Well, the good news is that I'm back in the writing groove - I wrote 500 more words on a new story yesterday, in a stolen hour before bedtime, and I now have that happy feeling of wanting to get back to it and knowing what's going to happen next.

The bad news is that this isn't any of the stories I'm supposed to be working on - it's not one of the stories I want to write for the Dutch SF&F competition, it's not the Stymphalian birds fanfic, it's not the fanfic with actual honest-to-Hera slash, it's a new Iolaus story that got my brain into a stranglehold and demanded to be written Right Now.

I can't call it a Hercules story because, well, Hercules isn't in it. But there is an original female character. Who is telling the story. In first person. Just kill me now...

Comments

[ahary.livejournal.com]

Don`t worry, I`ll certainly give the story a try first. *g*

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks!
And of course you can always kill me later...*g*

Mary "Me? Insecure?" Crawford

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Yay writing! (Me, I'm stuck-ish. There's a door. They have to get through it. Blech.)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Me, I'm stuck-ish. There's a door. They have to get through it.

Ow, I sympathize. Hope you get unstuck.

(I know: blow down the door!)

Mary "When in doubt, make things go Boom" Crawford

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Well, whining about it always seems to help, so I have hope. *g*

And, just cuz it bears repeating: Yay writing! Even the stuff you really didn't expect. ;)

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Oh, and! Your icon! {me is scatterbrained today}

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

I am scatterbrained too, because I meant to add 'Thank you for the Yay!'
I do agree. Writing is good. So is whining. And chocolate. And Keemun tea. Hmm. Did I have a point in there somewhere?

Mary, hopelessly addled

(And the icon is from i_cracked's gorgeous Labyrinth collection. :-)

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

It may be you just needed a change. When I've been working on a single story for a long time, I'll often get the overwhelming urge to write something else. I think it happens partly when I want to write, but the current project is stuck in a plot morass, so the writing energy gets directed to another story. Also I'll just get tired/bored of working on the current project and need something new to play with, something I don't know as much about.

I hope that makes sense. Basically there's something about being in the middle of working on something else that makes you come up with great new unrelated ideas. *g*

Multitasking...

[barbaraa.livejournal.com]

Think of it as multitasking. :)
I do the same thing with painting. I'll have at least 2 paintings going on. If I get stuck on one, or want it to dry before proceeding, I'll work on another. I had 3 going there recently. A rose and an outdoor scene, both watercolor, and another in the drawing/planning stage. The rose is finished (I don't do flowers usually, but I was experimenting with a new paper that comes fixed on a hard backing.). The garden scene is still being worked on. Stone walls can be a bitch (using the 3 hair brush for detail). The 3rd is now transferred to Arches cold press paper (the best paper I've worked with for washes and wet-on-wet).

On the writing scene, I've got two stories in the work: one is first person, the second is third, and yes, Mary, it incorporates one of my drabbles in it. They were put on the backburner when I decided I had to write the story for the GA's March challenge. I wish they'd go as fast as that one did! It was over 9000 words.

Re: Multitasking...

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thank you both - I think you're right about the need to play with something new. It has happened to me before. But what I have to watch out for is having this turn into a pattern, where I keep latching onto bright new story ideas while leaving the old ones hanging. (Yes, that's happened before too. I am nothing if not repetitive. *g*)

It does help that I know how this crackbrained story ends and what the point of it is. I am resolved to finish it properly and then take my newfound energy and get back to work on the other stuff.

Barbara, I'm glad to hear that you've got more stories on the hob! I look forward to seeing them on GA or the IWG.

[dbw.livejournal.com]

This makes perfect sense -- I've experienced exactly what you're describing. The hardest thing for me is making the decision between letting myself start something new and forcing myself to continue working on the current project. Sometimes, working on the new thing is the best thing I can do for the current project, if that makes any sense. :-)