It's been one thing after another in the month of August. I'm looking forward to flipping the calendar just in hopes that my string of odd luck changes. Note I don't say "Bad luck." I'm relatively healthy, in a nice home, and have a job I like and a spare job, writing, that I like. All of that makes me lucky. But lately I've had ups-and-downs: we sold our house but the buyer is now griping about 'hidden defects' (don't get me started). We bought a new house and had a few unexpected repairs. A co-worker is ill so I've had to pick up her workload at a very crucial, deadline-stressed moment.
I haven't been able to get much (if any) writing done. I've fallen back on the old "refill the creative well" thought -- maybe time away from my writing will help me come back with a fresh perspective. Part of the problem is that I'm a creature of habit, and all my habits have changed: I no longer go to the office, I telecommute. I'm actually working longer hours (big deadlines, you know), so I don't get "free time" until later at night. And by then, I'm tired and don't want to write.
So I'm looking ahead of September and the change of seasons, change of the calendar. I have set a goal for myself: on the day after Labor Day, I will settle into a new routine of working and writing. By then, we'll be mostly settled in our new house and I should be able to get my head back into fiction. Until then, I'll edit, consider new ideas, and try to stay caught up on blogs.
I feel the same way about writing romance -- in previous books it was easy to integrate the romance into the story. But in my current WIP, there are 2 romances: one in the past (and that really drives the motivation for the hero) and one tentative-almost romance in the present. This book isn't really about the romance. It's about the aftermath of romance, I guess. So it's been tough to write for me. But I'm determined that in September I'll sit down and writ. I know the story -- I just have to get those words on the page!
So just pretend I'm here ... someday, I really will be!
