KEEP WRITING! APPLY BUTT GLUE

So, I worked on a novel for three years. Once it was published I was swept up in the advertising, and now I feel lost without a project to occupy my time. I tried to jump into a children's fantasy book I have been working on, but I couldn't shift from the tone, setting and characters of my novel to imaginary sea creatures.

What am I going to do?  It is time to retreat to non fiction, without all the concerns of fiction. Yes, it is time to write another automotive how-to. For me they serve as a great transitional device. With nonfiction I let the oil that lubricates the gears of fiction (plot, conflict, pacing, tone, character development) cool and slowly thicken to its normal consistency, so that it is, once more, ready to begin another project in the realm of the imagination.

I use automotive projects as diversions in my daily routine of writing. That is, when I'm into the creative part, writing for three hours a day with a first draft, I love to go to the garage and rebuild a carburetor or something else on a car. It is simple. I follow a plan in a book. And by following a clear procedure my thoughts flow freely, and during that time, when no need or pressure is applied to the creative process, no need-to-know stress, that the answers to the fiction problems just roll out and I have to wipe the oil from my hands and search for a pen to record the solution that just made itself known.

The most important thing, for me, on a professional level, is to keep writing. And writing the
nonfiction is a trick I use to keep going.