Welcome to my writing update for April.
The whole month has been quite a blur.
Honestly, for the most part, I felt a bit out of sorts. I had a hard time getting myself back to work (on anything).
All I really wanted to do is crawl under a blanket and hide away from the world.
I don’t know if it was because the whole COVID lockdown was finally getting to me, or if it was more than that, but it definitely sucked.
One thing I did realize, was that I was putting too much pressure on myself.
I have this annoying tendency to always want too much too quickly. Obviously, it’s good to strive for something, but being realistic in what I can do in a certain timeframe has never been something I’ve been good at.
Not just with writing, but also work, trying to build up my business, reading, and even with my hobbies.
Talking about what I struggled with helped, though.
And I’m trying to look more at the things I’ve already accomplished, rather than just the things that I still feel I need to do.
It’s not easy, but I’m managing. I have felt less stressed these past few weeks, so this reframing of thoughts must be doing something right.
Anyway.
Now that you’re all updated about my mental state, let’s dive into what I worked on this month, and what you can take away from it.
Spoiler alert: it’s even more plotting than last month.
What I worked on this month
I’m not even going to go into the goals I had, because: I didn’t make those goals.
Why? How?
I’m still plotting.
Trudging through the mud that is the story I want to tell. Maybe that was part of the reason this month was so difficult mentally. Because strangely enough, every fiber of my being wanted to quit.
Just abandon the story.
For real, it’s never been this hard to come up with the plot.
I hear you thinking: didn’t I already figure out my plot last month?
Well, I sorta did. But as I said, pretty much the whole second half still sucked, and parts of the first half needed to be a hell of a lot more specific and actually support the story, which it didn’t always do.
Very annoyingly so, my amazing editor didn’t let me get away with a half-assed plot.
So I had to try again.
And then again.
To be fair, each time I sat down and tried to get the plot together again, it felt like I was getting closer to what this story needed to be. What I needed it to be.
And I think that’s why I wanted to run away from it.
Resistance was definitely showing up.
So what can you do about it?
Honestly, not much.
I think the only thing you really can do when you struggle with resistance is acknowledging that it is resistance and that this usually means you’re on to something.
And then all I could do was sit down and force myself to write plot-points and ideas and figure out how they work together, each and every day.
It was painful, I can tell you that much.
But I made it, and I had a working plot where I was pretty happy with the beginning, somewhat happy with the first half of the middle, and more or less okay with the second half of the story.
Great.
So, that still needed improvement.
Luckily, as I said (did I say annoying? I certainly didn’t mean annoying), I have an amazing editor who is just a wizard when it comes to figuring out what the plot still needs and what questions I have to think about.
I swear it’s like magic.
And as I’m writing this, I just send off my new and improved plot to her. And now I have a plot where I’m thrilled with the first half and definitely more than pleased with the second half. I can feel it’s coming together and that it’s going to be great.
At the same time, I’m also second guessing everything.
Gotta love the way our minds work, right?
My Goals for May
Is there even a point to me setting writing goals anymore?
Not sure.
I will have to wait and see what my editor says about my new-found plot.
And if she likes it, I might just decide to spend a weekend (or perhaps a couple of days if I can swing it in terms of work) writing my ass off and producing some scenes.
But we’ll see.
Helpful writing articles
I’m terribly sorry, I know I usually have this.
But considering my head was at a totally wacky place last month, I haven’t really gone through any articles, nor did I write a new hero’s journey article.
I promise I’ll make it up to you next month, though!
Tell me about your writing progress
That was it for my April writing update. Any project you’re working on? How’s your writing going? What are you struggling with, or what’s going really well?
Do you ever feel resistance while writing?
Let me know in the comments!
