Writing Plans: Why They Can Be Disastrous

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I really hate to admit this, but writing is a form of art.

Why do I hate to admit this? Well, I don’t like to think of writing as an art because artists of all sorts tend to get into this attitude of laziness.

“It’s art. Art can’t be rushed.”

Most of the time, this is an excuse for laziness. Oh, don’t you dare give me that look. It is, too! “I can’t paint right now – the muse isn’t with me.” THE MUSE ISN’T WITH THOSE EPISODES OF SHERLOCK YOU’RE BINGE-WATCHING, EITHER, SWEETIE.

But … there is another side to this.

It’s true that sometimes ‘the muse’ does run away and leave you hanging. You have no idea what to write. Every word comes out dry and tasteless. There’s not joy to your writing. Writing feels exhausting and worthless,

And other times, the muse is there! Every word you write has flavor, texture. You’re a regular Shakespeare, and life is good.

I truly believe that there are ways to regain the muse through various actions – taking a nice long walk, reading the Bible, praying, eating a box of chocolates, listening to music – but the fact remains that, at that point in time, writing isn’t working for you.

You’ve lost the muse.

It happens.

You’ll survive.

Probably.

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*circles back to actual subject of post*

Because the muse does tend to desert writers – even for months on end at times – writing can … vary.

Yes, you can keep writing, but it takes twice or three times as long, the quality of your work goes down, which means more revising, which means more editing, which means more time spent preparing your novel, and …

Before you know it, a three-month project takes a year.

This happened to me with Ivy Introspective. I rescheduled the publication several times because I had to rewrite it over and over again. It was frankly quite exhausting, and I just couldn’t get it to come out right.

Sometimes I’d spend a whole day writing just a couple paragraphs.

It was just the opposite with At Her Fingertips (and always has been). It flies from my pen (well, computer … keyboard … whatever). It’s always seemed alive to me somehow. I don’t know why … God decided to bless AFOP for some reason.

(Not to get all “preachy”, but God inspires all things that are awesome, so … you might want to look there, darlin’.) (#notashamed)

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Circling Back to Original Subject, 2.0

Because of this fact of occasional – sometimes even frequent – writer’s block … making plans for your writing can be tough.

For instance, at the beginning of this year, I don’t myself I was going to write Once a Stratton, Caught in a Spell (my fantasy novel), and Interpreting Callie James. I’ve started Once a Stratton but never finished it, and the other two were left in the dust.

(What did I do with my time this summer? I’ve completely forgotten …)

I was also going to revise and edit At Her Fingertips, Flowers, Ivy Introspective, and The Dressmaker’s Secret. Well, at least I got 50%.