What’s next?

by Christine Kling

Last Friday I emailed off the final edited version of my new novel Dragon’s Triangle, and I could really say, “It’s finished.” And oddly enough, for the past week I’ve felt rudderless and adrift. I have several little boat projects I’ve half started and not finished, but I’m feeling like one of those clueless Thai monkeys running across the road. I’m moving around making motions, but not really getting anywhere.

It’s such a strange feeling to finish a project that you have been working on for more than a year. Every day when you woke up, you knew exactly what you would be doing. It feels so weird to wake up one morning and ask yourself, “What’s next?”

My dog Barney has benefitted from my state of suspended dedication as he has been getting many more and longer walks. I’d like to think these long dreamy walks have just been the result of a writer searching for her muse, or simply blowing off steam after all those months of hard work. But in fact, it’s something more insidious. It’s the P-word raising its ugly head. Procrastination.

Getting ideas, writing them down and attempting to mold them into something others will enjoy reading is hard work. There are other authors who make it look easy and fun, but not me. My son recommended an article to me on the Fast Company site called Creativity is Really Just Persistence and Science Can Prove It.  According to the article, “the slow, disciplined effort of concentration helps” the muse in her work. “You’ve got a finite amount of attention stuff–and the way you invest it kinda decides your life.”

It’s that last line there that really hit home with me. In a few months I’m going to turn 60 years old. This birthday is feeling like a big one — I usually don’t pay that much attention to these numbers. But that word “finite” is speaking to me these days. There is so much more that I want to do, so many more books to write.

So it’s time to switch P-words and get back to the trait that has so far allowed me to finish six novels — persistence. I’ll never be a fast writer, but with the butt in the chair (or on the settee as the case may be), I do eventually make my way to the golden words, THE END.

 Fair winds!

Christine

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