I’ve taken a lot of time off from creative writing. Oh, I don’t mean the blog. I keep on doing this because, of course, I love it. And I do post an occasional Friday Fiction piece. But it’s not the same as tackling the writing of a novel.
After completing the event planning textbook in January, I needed some time away to clear my mind, teach my classes, focus on my family, and maybe even go for a therapeutic walk now and then.
But now, I’m ready to get my groove back. Like Stella from the novel by Terry McMillan, sometimes we need to get back in the swing of things.
Yesterday, my brain became unfrozen. I had become stuck within the pages of my third novel, and it was bothering me. I wasn’t liking it. I’d stopped writing because I didn’t know where the story was going to go, what it was going to do, or what it would become. But then, in a moment of utter relaxation and pure clarity, I had a vision, and I wrote the prologue. It came to me from—honestly, I don’t know from what source it came. It was as if someone held up a bright light and said, “And the story is going to start here.” It was crazy, and then Boom!, just like that, I was back in the groove.
Don’t loose your groove, writers. Push through it. Keep stuff that you think is crap. Delete sentences, edit and rework paragraphs, and delete some more. Get rid of characters and ideas that aren’t working. But more than anything, stay in the groove.
You got this.
