What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

I really wanted to sink my claws in and begin the second draft round but today was so draining at work that I'm exhausted. I'm a teacher, and often my job uses up all my creative energy through lesson planning and material creation. Has anyone else dealt with a massive energy drain at work impacting their writing drive and motivation? Any tips? It's killing my speed and timeline.

heykatydid said:

I really wanted to sink my claws in and begin the second draft round but today was so draining at work that I'm exhausted. I'm a teacher, and often my job uses up all my creative energy through lesson planning and material creation. Has anyone else dealt with a massive energy drain at work impacting their writing drive and motivation? Any tips? It's killing my speed and timeline.

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I have the same problem. Job is mentally but not physically demanding, so getting home every night to find the creative energy troughing after the drive, and the reverse school run, and supermarket trauma, and sorting dinner, and the constant laundry that has to be done daily. By the time the kids wind down its gone ten o'clock, and I haven't even the cognitive energy to resolve the beer/wine dilemma, let alone immerse myself in my fictions.

My only tip I can offer, that has worked for me, to get through the drain and put words on the page is this: Make yourself do it.

As for me, right now, I'm trying something new, a fresh approach to discipline, and restarting the book from t beginning, one scene at a time. One scene finished and polished before I start the next. Its worth a shot I suppose.

heykatydid said:

I really wanted to sink my claws in and begin the second draft round but today was so draining at work that I'm exhausted. I'm a teacher, and often my job uses up all my creative energy through lesson planning and material creation. Has anyone else dealt with a massive energy drain at work impacting their writing drive and motivation? Any tips? It's killing my speed and timeline.

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Totally sympathetic. I work 12-hour days on average in finance, so all the spreadsheets, modeling, pitch decks, and client meetings really drain me during the week. I typically get home at around 7-9PM, and by the time I've relaxed enough to get out of "work mode"/get my creative juices running, it's 10PM and time for bed. I write best at night, but some days my work is so draining that I just don't have the energy or the juice to get going.

The only thing I can tell myself is that I love writing, and I just need to get a book published. I'm on my third re-write of the current MS; it's both easier and harder compared to a first draft in several different aspects. It's easier in that I have a really good sense of direction as to where this story is going (since I've already written it twice and am now shaping it up to the best structure possible after several beta readers' comments). It's harder in that I can't just "put words on the page" anymore -- anything I write has to be at least passably good, since it's a third draft. There will definitely be rounds of revisions to come, but right now, I just have to finish this.

We can do this!

Morri said:

I always thought lanky to be long-limbed and skinny, while lean meant slim but with muscle.

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That's what I thought too, but, according to what I brought up online, it's the opposite.

Thanks so much for all the replies and commiserations! I kept thinking (foolishly) that I was just being weak for not being able to work through this energy lack. I keep telling myself that I need to give less at work (80% instead of 100%) so I have more for my own hobbies and interests, but man it's hard. It helps knowing that others are going through the same thing - and I think that advice to keep making yourself do it is right on the money. I'll give it a shot tonight. Thanks again, everyone!

Punk28: is that a Julia set in your avatar???

RLGreenleaf said:

Punk28: is that a Julia set in your avatar???

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Not sure. While running through the page's available avatar's, I came by it and liked it.

Under the assumption that I forgot how to write again. I started chapter 23 three times now, and decided to go with the second form of it, and have done nothing but stare at it and try to figure out how to continue writing it. I know how I want it to run, but the words are just not being written.

Punk28 said:

I know how I want it to run, but the words are just not being written.

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I hate when that happens.

Punk28: I have long suspected that the words themselves get tired of "being used", and they start feeling like they are being taken for granted, an under-appreciated.

So to get back at us, they hide when we are trying to write something, and they are all hiding there, behind the page, laughing at us, and making fun of us because without them, we are nothing.

I suspect it's their way of getting some sort of revenge, and of reminding us that they are important.

For myself, I've come to appreciate every single word that comes along and makes itself useful.

I've been finding myself in a weird spot of struggling with judging the quality of my own work, and it's terrifying, because it's brand new. It only started happening a few weeks ago. Usually I have a pretty good editing eye when it comes to my own writing (which I am so thankful for) and it's been helpful with writing short stories and working on long term projects. BUT. I have a manuscript I've been working on for nearly four years, and I can't tell if I've fallen into a place where I can no longer tell what is good and what is bad because I've spent so much time with the work. I know that after over ten rounds of editing on a technical level my work is solid. But now I catch myself doubting elements of plot and character that a year ago I was confident in. And I feel kind of paralyzed because I'm afraid that I'll take out something that belongs, and leave in something that doesn't, and all of those years of editing and rewriting and revising will be wasted. Asksdhfkjsldlsadjkasdh

RLGreenleaf said:

Punk28: I have long suspected that the words themselves get tired of "being used", and they start feeling like they are being taken for granted, an under-appreciated.

So to get back at us, they hide when we are trying to write something, and they are all hiding there, behind the page, laughing at us, and making fun of us because without them, we are nothing.

I suspect it's their way of getting some sort of revenge, and of reminding us that they are important.

For myself, I've come to appreciate every single word that comes along and makes itself useful.

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I appreciate the words that go in the documents that I make, but am also trying to keep them from bumping into one another too much. Sometimes, too many of 1 word can be annoying. Most of my issue lies in me trying to get "the perfect" story in draft 1, which very rarely (if ever) happens; incorporating the appropriate amount of emotion into where it goes is also something that I'm having trouble with.

Managed to get a little under 2000 words written yesterday, which I've edited today, and then write a further 2500 today. The chapter's not done, but it shows promise.

heykatydid said:

I really wanted to sink my claws in and begin the second draft round but today was so draining at work that I'm exhausted. I'm a teacher, and often my job uses up all my creative energy through lesson planning and material creation. Has anyone else dealt with a massive energy drain at work impacting their writing drive and motivation? Any tips? It's killing my speed and timeline.

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I know exactly how you feel, and I'm thinking this right now! I'm a uni lecturer, and even though my classes finish earlier than a teacher's I feel so tired (mentally) after work. Plus I'm just coming out of a very long (5+ years) writer's block. I wrote a bit the other day, but I felt the words weren't flowing well and felt more frustrated after starting.

Like others said, I suppose the key is to just do it. Even if it's 30 min. a day, that's better than nothing, right?

nicotine027 said:

I know exactly how you feel, and I'm thinking this right now! I'm a uni lecturer, and even though my classes finish earlier than a teacher's I feel so tired (mentally) after work. Plus I'm just coming out of a very long (5+ years) writer's block. I wrote a bit the other day, but I felt the words weren't flowing well and felt more frustrated after starting.

Like others said, I suppose the key is to just do it. Even if it's 30 min. a day, that's better than nothing, right?

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I hope so! I've been trying my best to get something, anything, on the page at night, even when I think I might drop down on the floor. Progress, even tiny progress of only a few paragraphs, is better than nothing, I suppose! I wish there was an easier way to be able to focus on the writing without having all the other stuff going on, don't you? But sadly, not going to ever really be an option for me. Plus, I really just write because I love it. Haha, I just wish so much I had the energy to spend on things I WANT to spend it on instead of things I don't!

nicotine027 said:

Plus I'm just coming out of a very long (5+ years) writer's block. I wrote a bit the other day, but I felt the words weren't flowing well and felt more frustrated after starting.

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5 years is a really long time for one to experience writer's block. For one only experiencing 4 weeks of The Block, I feel for you. Keep trying to write and the wall will break -- it's worked for me every time.

Decided to read through what I wrote on chapter 23 today. Most of what I wrote on day 1 of this chapter was kept, while some of the rest was tweaked. I did a brutal changing on the second part, where I encountered the most trouble (no emotion where emotion's suppose to be expressed, and no explanation on how, exactly, the described characters looked upon dying is made, even though it's referenced that the one remembering them is thinking about how he felt when the calls on their passing. and then seeing them before their funeral concludes, are done). I see where I need to do A LOT of changing to this part of the story, and hope I can do it with my sanity intact.

WIP1 The historical. Still doing a LBL on draft 8, currently on section 4 of Chapter 14. I decided to combine scenes that take place on the same day via sections in one chapter.

WIP2 The crime thriller. It's really spinning out. I beefed up the cause and it's effects.

WIP3 The autobiography. I'm in high school, working my first job (at a mom and pop greasy spoon owned by a family friend.)

Hi,
I sometimes fall into a self-impose trap of the proper way to use tenses in my novels. Am i using past or present tenses, I sometimes fall into this trap where I don't feel confident in my tense usage. At this stage my writing I shouldn't have to worry about it to much, but over the last few years I feel this one aspect of my writing hasn't imrpoved a lot.

Really, the only thing on my mind about my writing today is how much I HATE the editing stage!

WIP1 The Historical: Finished Part Three: Hoodwinked and fixing to start and finish Part Four: Dream On, draft 8.

Editing makes for a shiny manuscript.

Well, I just laid awake for several hours wondering if maybe all of my characters are flat.

I'm going to have a lot of work to do when I get to editing the trilogy I'm currently writing. I've written it mostly as a pantser, so I know there are going to be continuity errors between the books. Nothing too major. I'll just have to make sure everything makes sense during edits.

So maybe it won't be too bad.

I spent some time last night going through one of the threads in the SF/Fantasy forums about the first 200 words and reading all the feedback others have given, and then I took that and looked at my own (for a fantasy romance), realizing it was way too exposition, info-dump heavy. I took an hour or so to rework the first bit to make it more of a hook, and I have to say, it's already loads more exciting. I'm pretty pleased with that right now, which is helping me keep motivation going into some more of the editing. Thanks, AW forums! (Now let's hope this good feeling continues and I can get a lot done!)

Does anybody else write multiple stories at once? I currently have a primary project where I've been consistently hitting 1,000 words each day. I also have a secondary project that I write when I still have some juice left over. Today, I wrote 1100 words in the primary project and 1700 in the secondary.

Oh, and I'm also editing another book while writing these two.

rwm4768 said:

Does anybody else write multiple stories at once? I currently have a primary project where I've been consistently hitting 1,000 words each day. I also have a secondary project that I write when I still have some juice left over. Today, I wrote 1100 words in the primary project and 1700 in the secondary.

Oh, and I'm also editing another book while writing these two.

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I'm writing three books on dedicated days, and the first draft of a history that I polish when I'm not fixing to hit the floor. I edited almost 900 words yesterday morning after editing almost 7,000 on the historical.

WIP1, the historical. 8th draft, accidentally left out the wedding dress and it's fitting. I could scoot on without either, but the arranged marriage is what cranks up the main plot. These two scenes will add another dread to the approaching farce.

rwm4768 said:

Does anybody else write multiple stories at once? I currently have a primary project where I've been consistently hitting 1,000 words each day. I also have a secondary project that I write when I still have some juice left over. Today, I wrote 1100 words in the primary project and 1700 in the secondary.

Oh, and I'm also editing another book while writing these two.

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I never did prior to this year, but I'm really seeing the value in it now. It gives me options to bounce between when I'm writing, though I'm typically quite slow given that I don't often have much time to write (or energy). Sometimes I'll be in the mood to write one and not the other, or I'll get tired of the editing process. Congrats on your word counts between the two recently! That's really impressive!