Writer’s Block is Real!
You hear so many authors talk about writer’s block and how they manage to move past it. I’m here to say this is a real thing, and I have approached it several ways. Last night was the prime example of my patience with a character.
When you open your 12,000-word manuscript and stare for over an hour at the blank page before you, what happens? Yes, I might have recreated the scene from Hitch at Ellis Island where she screams at the signature of her great-grandfather.
In the past, I’ve been stuck, blocked, and stuff but never like this. Literally for the last few weeks I open the story, stare and get mad. That only causes me to close the document and search Facebook, Buzzfeed Videos, and whatever else I can find online.
It seems that the internal battle that I’m having with this particular male character might win in his favor. Back when I started writing, I went sexy, then converted to what I would call calmer sex scenes. Now that I am up against Seth, which is the third book in The Chances Series, and we all know he is a player and well you know how it ends for him and Jessica. Apparently in the first chapter he wanted to get his groove on with his new interest, but I blocked that. The joke must be on me as I try to create a caring player versus the butt head he is.
I’m going to try a different approach in a few days to see if we can compromise and come to a solution for this. As I sit here and watch the days tick away, the panic starts to set in as I know my deadline is approaching quickly. Not to mention that I’ve got another event coming up and that will eat up about a week of my time as I have to travel. Then let’s insert the holidays… Okay, where did October go? I knew when I started I had plenty of time to finish, well, that was until the brakes kicked in and said nope this is not happening.
Even back when I started Frosted Sweets, I was still battling with Seth and thought maybe if I wrote another story and put him in a timeout that he would be ready when I was done. NOPE! I mean we show the cover for Frosted Sweets in less than 20 days… That’s exciting, but I still need to move past these 12,000 words and hit the 70,000 mark or more.
Internally I know this can be done as I just need to get pass this hurdle. I plan to relax for the next few days and dig deep into his mind to see where we can come to a happy medium. Will this work? Oh, Lord, I hope it does. The main problem has been that I’m okay if he wants me to wait, and I can move on to the next book for A Taste of Love Series… He apparently says that can’t happen either because all of those characters have left.
I’ll take the advice that I was given and see if I can work through it until then I shall blog about random stuff. Let’s also not forget I do have things to get ready for the next release coming in December. It’s not like I don’t have anything to do, it’s just not the main thing that I need to be doing right now.
Next month is National Novel Writing Month and I’m taking part in the 50,000 words in a month contest. HA… Is what I say to that one. If I can do those 50,000 words in the month of November, I’m golden to meeting my deadline. If I break that down, it’s roughly 1600 words a day. Let’s add travel days for events in that mix which mean I need to up my game and hit around 3,000 words a day. Totally doable, right? We will see at the end of the month. Have no fear as I will deliver Seth and he will be perfect.
Time to sign off as I have work to do and blank pages to stare at.
This has been a random post from the desk of A.M. Willard
