I’m writing my 5th book this year. From April 2021 to now, I’ve finished two full length novels and two novellas. At some point in every novel or novella that I have written so far, I have found myself in an uncomfortable, paralyzing moment. I’m there now in my third full length novel.
Sometimes the moment lasts a few days or a week. Sometimes it lasts a month or more. During the writing of one novel, I paused (clutched) long enough that I wrote an entire separate novella before getting back into the groove with the novel.
During that time, even though I was writing daily, I experienced incredible angst about that half-finished work. Those characters loomed over me during the day and haunted my sleep at night.
I don’t know if my experience is universal or specific to me. I don’t know if this is a process that only happens with writing or if it is common in other artistic endeavors as well. (And I don’t know if it is wise for an author/creator to admit that she experiences this). But I thought maybe talking about it will help someone else. It never hurts to remind myself that, thus far, I have finished every novel or novella I’ve started. I will finish this one too.
I’ve read books on writing. I’ve listened to podcasts and read blogs on writing. Some advice is helpful, but I believe every writer, every artist, every creator is different. We all have to find the rhythm and process that works for us. I’m also beginning to believe that what works on one work, in one time, may need to change for the next. I am trying to learn to be comfortable with that. The creative process is just that–a process (changing, growing, moving) and creative (varied, fluid, surprising, challenging). It is by nature a non-linear, non-traditional undertaking.
My questions today are: Are those moments of temporary suspension, of blockage always negative? Could there be a useful purpose to the pause, the questions, the pushing through? Are they perhaps a necessary part of the process? What do you think?