In a fit of impulse, I did the thing I swore I was not going to do until edits for Antigone’s Wrath were complete.
I started its sequel.
Every time I look at the file I kick myself a little, but I add a few words to it anyway. Slowly. I’m not fully committed to it yet.
Why? Mostly, the painful process of writing book 1 is still extremely fresh in my memory. It’s the reason I told myself to wait. Writing Antigone’s Wrath was hard. Very, very hard. I don’t recall anything ever taking that long to write before. There were days when I couldn’t even manage two hundred words on that novel. I don’t want to go through that again.
It isn’t that I dislike Antigone’s Wrath. Quite the opposite, really. I adore the end product. I’m in love with the story, the characters, and the setting of it. I want to pick right up where I left off and produce another tale in that world.
My problem remains, however. I don’t want to relive the plodding nightmare that it was during the writing. Also, I’ve still got a lot of editing to do on book 1. This and school and family and other commitments are all conspiring against a new writing project.
My compromise is that I am restricting myself to writing in very short stints on my phone. Yes, my phone. It’s super handy to have the My Writing Spot app at my fingertips at all times. Currently, these small chunks of time are limited to class breaks, waiting rooms, drive thru lines, and things of that nature. So when I say short, I mean 1-15 minutes. Maximum. As it’s thumb-typing only, the pace is slow, maybe 75-100 words for every 5 minutes, but it’s something. I’ve decided that is the important factor here, not the quantity of time, but rather the practice it provides. Another bonus: I don’t sit in front of a computer beating myself up because I’ve only managed 500 words in a few dedicated hours. With the limitations, I don’t have time to hate myself or the project, or consider quitting the whole business of writing because I obviously can’t do it.
The down side is that I find myself longing for a big chunk of time so I can allow myself full immersion in a scene. I think that might also be a good thing, though. The whole “absence makes the heart grow fonder” idea seems to have some merit. When I’m finally able to give myself those hours for nothing but writing, I’ll be ready for them.
And that will be a very good thing.
x
Thoughts. We needs them, Precious.