I bet you thought I’d disappeared for life. Like everyone else I’ve been dealing with Covid restrictions and being even more reclusive, but I’m fully vaccinated, spring has sprung (despite having two snowstorms in the past 2 weeks and flurries on some of the other days. Vermont is gorgeous but it doesn’t do spring.)
I’ve also been battling really obnoxious writer’s block, something I seldom have had to deal with. I’ve spent so damned much time thinking about why I’m not writing that I know a lot of the reasons – for one, the money matters, and I’ve spent most of my career making choices based on creativity, not money. The one time I thought I could take the money and run was a total disaster, and the many times I’ve chosen a less lucrative offer over a more generous one I haven’t regretted it.
And the last book, THE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY WORST MAN IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES did so well, got such nice reviews and made so much money that I’m a little paralyzed in trying to equal it (when I know perfectly well this is a different book and I shouldn’t be comparing). And I’m being greedy on a creative level – I want each book to be utterly brilliant and ravishing, but the only way you write a brilliant and ravishing book is to write the damned thing.
So I was whining to Crusie yesterday, trying to decide between which two books to work on, my old-skool romantic suspense or my new historical, and I finally decided to get over myself and get to work. So that’s what I’m doing. (Of course, you notice I’m writing this post instead of actually working on the book, but that’s incidental.)
So, starting today, I’m diving back into the terribly-titled Beggar’s Ken, and I’m going to write until it’s done and then slap and knead and pummel it into shape. I was thinking of tossing out chapters, but that will just make me feel frustrated, so I’m moving forward, and as Crusie would say, nothing but good times ahead.
And then I’ll finish the Old-skool romantic suspense, which I love and isn’t what people are wanting from me, and then maybe my Indiana Jones-is adventure, or I’ll write something entirely different. Writing makes me happy.
So today I’m going to make myself happy and write.