Sir_Solomon

I never imagined writing to be so difficult. After forty-four months of writing my novel, it hasn’t gotten any easier.

But I won’t give in. I’m going to keep working on this thing until it’s done. I will finish!

If you have been following my progress here, then you are aware that I have hit a rough patch in my writing. The wellspring of words seems to have run dry.

Over the past three weeks I have placed my energies in other things, one includes reading an amazing book titled The Power of Less by Leo Babauta. (This book is all about simplifying one’s life by doing less, which promotes productivity. So if you are seeking to be more effective, then I suggest you get a copy. You won’t be disappointed.) Of the many things I have learned so far, one of them stood out:

Reassess your progress. To keep yourself on track, once a week, review your projects and see how much closer you are to completion, and what still needs to be done. If you notice that you’re focusing on something that’s not getting you closer to completion, refocus yourself.

That was music to my soul. I have completed the first six chapters of my novel well over a year ago, but I have yet to go back and reread them. Instead of reviewing my work to see what I have done and to see where the story is actually going, I ended up getting sidetracked and focused on something else. Losing focus is what stopped the flow of words. What I focused on is but a small part of the story and not the main thing, yet I made it to be bigger than what it should be. I would not be experiencing writer’s block if I had just kept my previous work nearby instead of revisiting it.

This one piece of advice alone is worth the cost of the book (at least to me). It’s put me back on track to writing a potential bestseller. That and the time I have spent doing other things have been good as more ideas have presented themselves, as well as another possible book.

Cheers! :-)

(Sigh) Things aren’t going so well. I have these grand ideas for my book, yet I fail to find the “bridges” that link those ideas together. Maybe, just maybe, my ideas are too much and I should scale them back. Or maybe my weak writing ability is the culprit.

(Sigh) I’m still trying to hang in there. After three years, I’m still working on my first novel. Every day I fight the urge to quit; every day I sit in my desk chair and try to make it happen. I’ve come so far already. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find those “bridges” and finish this novel by year’s end.