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jazzfishI don't know what my bloody problem is but this addition / rewrite is slogging through molasses. Or #3 maple syrup, if you prefer. (I do.)
Some of it's timing in the middle of a busy month, some of it's having trouble getting into any kind of flow. More of it's looking at what I've written, both in the previous version and in the changes I've made here, and thinking, "this doesn't do anything at all like what i want it to." I'm not picking up the pace, not enough; I'm not making things get any worse any sooner; my new character isn't doing a damned thing. None of it makes any sort of sense to me. I'm trying to change the existing shape of a story and it is just. not. happening. Nevermind that I can see perfectly well why the shape as it is now doesn't work, nevermind that I know what needs to change to make it work, the changes are resisting my every effort. And then two days or a week later I look and say "of course it's resisting, because that's the wrong thing to put there, it isn't doing what i need it to at all." Bleh.
I keep reminding myself that there are people, at least two of them, who had good things to say about it as it was. It doesn't really help.
"You write quickly, right?" TNH asked me. And yeah, I do, when the words are coming, when I know the shape of the story. Then I can write reasonably fast. This right here is just horrible, slow, depressing. Getting nowhere.
I will of course be missing my self-imposed deadline of "submit by end of november." Maybe if I buckle down I can get it out the door, or at least drafted, by the end of the year. And hope the editor in question doesn't respond with a "pfft, took him that long to make a few simple changes?"
Some amount of this is directly related to a lack of writing community in my life. Oh well. I don't really see that changing in the near future so I had better learn to live with it.
Some of it's timing in the middle of a busy month, some of it's having trouble getting into any kind of flow. More of it's looking at what I've written, both in the previous version and in the changes I've made here, and thinking, "this doesn't do anything at all like what i want it to." I'm not picking up the pace, not enough; I'm not making things get any worse any sooner; my new character isn't doing a damned thing. None of it makes any sort of sense to me. I'm trying to change the existing shape of a story and it is just. not. happening. Nevermind that I can see perfectly well why the shape as it is now doesn't work, nevermind that I know what needs to change to make it work, the changes are resisting my every effort. And then two days or a week later I look and say "of course it's resisting, because that's the wrong thing to put there, it isn't doing what i need it to at all." Bleh.
I keep reminding myself that there are people, at least two of them, who had good things to say about it as it was. It doesn't really help.
"You write quickly, right?" TNH asked me. And yeah, I do, when the words are coming, when I know the shape of the story. Then I can write reasonably fast. This right here is just horrible, slow, depressing. Getting nowhere.
I will of course be missing my self-imposed deadline of "submit by end of november." Maybe if I buckle down I can get it out the door, or at least drafted, by the end of the year. And hope the editor in question doesn't respond with a "pfft, took him that long to make a few simple changes?"
Some amount of this is directly related to a lack of writing community in my life. Oh well. I don't really see that changing in the near future so I had better learn to live with it.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-29 01:03 pm (UTC)Fortunately, I have also found that when you are deep in the mire, you are probably on your way out already. I predict that someday soon you will wake up and go "Oh--oh!"
Also, sometimes all it needs is for you to back off and do something else for a little while while your subconscious works on it. Which may mean breaking your self-imposed deadline.
(I'm working on post-VP novel revisions, myself, but I'm mostly keeping the shape of the novel the same--thank goodness--so a lot of my slowness is finals-related.)
*waves pompoms*
no subject
Date: 2011-11-30 05:05 am (UTC)bleh. Only way out is through and all that. This... is deeply frustrating, in a whole new way. It's not even "my writing sucks," it's "my lack of writing would suck if there were any writing going on."
(Not helped by having Other Stupid Brain Stuff going on as well, of course. Bleh and double bleh.)
(Also, cheerleading is deeply appreciated, thank you.)