What Do You Do When the Writing Stops?

[Gabriel]

My most recent blog is about the feeling of emptiness I get when I've finished writing a book that I've worked on for a long, long time. You can read it at:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

[June]

I will as I'm faced with this. I am suppose to write a sequel to one of my novels, and finally, instead of, wrote another how to book. It is like feeling lost, empty... I'll read your blog.

[Paul]

I also felt hollo - like something was missing and actually found myself moping around for a week or so. Then I forced myself to stop thinking about as I was also aware of feeling tired. I just R & R'd for a little while - no set time and after a bit of a break, more ideas started to flow and as such started on the next story. Albeit, only short (about fifty pages), and won't ever get published, it must have got the ideas moving again and subsequently commenced the next full story, which I'm currently working on.

[S.]

ow lots of things need to get done! ironing, cleaning, reading, sleeping, travelling..all sorts really!

[Gabriel]

Paul wrote: "I also felt hollo - like something was missing and actually found myself moping around for a week or so. Then I forced myself to stop thinking about as I was also aware of feeling tired. I just R &..."

There's nothing like the feeling of getting back in there, and getting the creative juices pumping again. Write away, right away!

[Paul]

Absolutely, Sometimes I just feel great just being in a world of my own. :)

[Alp]

These stories are like lovers; brief encounters stitched together with amazing sex and then they are gone and we are left standing on the platform in the cold and rain. The announcer tells us that the 5:45 from Euston is due in five minutes so we reach for a breath mint and pluck a fresh smile out of our pocket to woo the next story which takes our fancy as it sashays along the platform in impossible heels.

Viva the 'next project'!

[Paul]

Alp wrote: "These stories are like lovers; brief encounters stitched together with amazing sex and then they are gone and we are left standing on the platform in the cold and rain. The announcer tells us that ..."

I like the comment - good analogy - it indeed is intimate and exciting. The new page just gives you so much freedom - simply marvellous. :)

[Gabriel]

Alp wrote: "These stories are like lovers; brief encounters stitched together with amazing sex and then they are gone and we are left standing on the platform in the cold and rain. The announcer tells us that ..."

Crap! That's better than my kids leaving home. Gotta work harder on my analogies. ;)

[K.L.]

Edit, format. Edit, format, publish, market, author events. And the whole time I wish I could just sit at home in my jammies and write the next one - LOL!

[Gabriel]

K.L. wrote: "Edit, format. Edit, format, publish, market, author events. And the whole time I wish I could just sit at home in my jammies and write the next one - LOL!"

Amen to that!

[Bobbi]

Writing is a job. Simple as that. When I finish a book, I start the next one (with a BIG brain vacation between).

[[deleted user]]

Writing never stops.

[Richard]

The writing never stops for me. I have just finished my first novel and in the process of marketing it on social media, which encompasses quite a bit of writing. I have heard from many indie authors that their first book didn't sell until they wrote their second. So I have started on a sequel. Keep writing!

[DeNise]

...so we reach for a breath mint and pluck a fresh smile out of our pocket to woo the next story which takes our fancy as it sashays along the platform in impossible heels.
*smile* I love this! Thanks

[Rachael]

I generally give myself a few months' breathing space before starting on the next big adventure. If another idea has come along in the meantime, I plot it out; if not, I enjoy the luxury of having free time and focus on my other interests. It goes without saying I read voluminously at such a time!

[Kam]

I like to read as they help me get inspired :)

[Alp]

It can also help to walk the dog - I have some of best ideas when walking the dog.

You could go train spotting instead ... lol

[Gabriel]

Alp wrote: "It can also help to walk the dog - I have some of best ideas when walking the dog.

You could go train spotting instead ... lol"

Or just driving aimlessly at night. There's nothing like city streets at night to inspire all sorts of new ideas.

[Brooks]

I have come to view that feeling as natural, and the want to write something new will arrive in due course.

[Mike]

I find that I wake in the middle of the night with a new idea or plot, and then get up and write the outline. I have a specialy shaded light on my laptop or my wife will wake up and then ...

[Alice]

These days publishers expect authors to do a great deal of work promoting and publicizing their books. No tours unless you are Stephen King. Local only. My first novel was published this year and then I was told to get to work using social media. Began like gangbusters. Certain I could do it all. It was a rude awakening when I ran out of steam and realized that there was no time to write. Promote, promote, promote...like a whore.

CeDany is correct. "I wrote the darn thing." It was an accomplishment to find an agent, a publisher and then hold the gorgeous book in my hands, which I worked on for twenty years (yikes), and which I was certain to be buried with. Some love it, some hate it. Time to move on. Get to work. Write another story. A wicked one, this time. Find the joy again. Get lost in the glorious, challenging process, and the search for the right words to tell the story. At 73 I have no time for Writer's Block.

CeDany wrote: "If it happens as it is called - Writer's Block - just take a break for a while or if you prefer, a breather.

Then, simply jump back in after reading the previous bits and it comes back to you - we..."

[Jack]

I took a different approach. I kept writing. Production was down, true, but by writing a page or two daily, I managed to turn out about 5000 words in a typical week. I also promoted previously-published books and did social media stuff, blogged, edited a friend's writing, revised my own work-in-progress. In so doing, I took my own advice, published earlier on my own blog.
Yesterday the inspiration, the joy, came back. Two chapters, about 5000 words, plus another chapter already this morning. I'll do a second this afternoon.
If you're a writer, write; work through the doldrums, don't let them gain mastery over you.
You'll remember why you began writing, in time.

[Alice]

Impressive, Jack.

Jack wrote: "I took a different approach. I kept writing. Production was down, true, but by writing a page or two daily, I managed to turn out about 5000 words in a typical week. I also promoted previously-publ..."