The Fickle Muse

Or perhaps it’s me that’s fickle.  When it comes to writing, I’m not entirely sure.  In other parts of my life, when I feel the need to bounce around to different things–and each thing is my new favorite–I know it’s me.  Perhaps, here, it’s a combination of both the muse and me being fickle.

Often, when I finish one story, get it to the point where it’s ready to go, I have this period of mourning where I’m not ready to start something new because I’m just not ready to let go of what I just finished.  Last time that lasted for a good long while, and I just couldn’t settle into any new story.  I’d start something, get a couple thousand words, or ten thousand, and I’d just hit a wall.  It happened over and over again last year, and basically the second half of the year was terrible writing-wise.  I got very little accomplished and the muse kept sending me new ideas, and I was a mess.  Until finally there was one story that sparked and caught flame, and I managed to finish and entire novella.

But now it appears to be happening again.  Story done, I almost immediately jumped into something new, a plot that has been swimming around in my brain for a year or more.  I began to get it on the page, but I haven’t written a word on it in more than a week.  And there’s this other thing that’s going on in my brain too.  Two other things, if I’m honest.  And I alternate between “Oh!  I should write that!” and the first one I started.  It’s definitely tricky to get my brain to settle.  And I’m letting other responsibilities push my writing to the side instead of dutifully making time to write.

In two weeks and two days, my happy little novella Pumpkin Rolls and Porn Sounds releases, and it’s been a year since anything I’ve published has hit the shelves.  It’s exciting and scary, because of course I want people to like it. And I hope to go not as long between releases this time. But we shall see.  I’m not as prolific a writer as I expected to be.  See, before I was published, I was writing a lot more.  I didn’t have trouble getting words on the page.  But now it’s a different ball game, so to speak, and the pressure I put on myself is bigger than I expected.  I’m trying to be logical, or rather not entirely emotional, but it’s not an easy thing.  Everyone says “Just write.  Tell your story.  Put it on the page.”  And everyone is right.  But I don’t always find that I’m capable of it.  And that is frustrating.

Anyway!  In the meantime, while I struggle to put an entire story on the page, we have the flash fics and that will hopefully tide you over.  Three of the Fridays in February feature Joshua and Will, and while I don’t think you’ll have to have read Pumpkin Rolls and Porn Sounds in order for them to make sense, I’m certain it will help.  And yes, that was a shameless plug to please go buy my book on February 11th.  😀