Tuesday, 30 December 2014

New Year - New Start - New Aspirations??


New year – New Aspirations? Yay!!?? Perhaps...
 At least that’s what it’s meant to be. But maybe the aspirations are not so new…  It’s been quite a while since I worked on my WIP and whilst I did have every intention of continuing with it, I now feel like starting a new project! I guess it’s the New Year thing – new broom and all that!
The thing is my WIP is 60000 words done so it seems a shame to abandon it. But I won’t shelve it forever. I think I’ll just get going on something else and keep it in the background. I will, in any case, have to sit and re-read it all anyway - just to remind myself of where I was at. So maybe when I’ve done that I’ll feel re-invigorated and excited by it again!!

Perhaps the solution is to try a few short stories and then see how I feel… (sighs and pulls face…)

 But then again – some brilliant ideas are calling out to me. They just don’t want to wait on the backburner and I worry that I will forget or lose the main idea if I prevaricate. I have made notes but that’s not the same as starting a new project fired up with the enthusiasm and excitement which will carry me through the first chapters.

I know many people say they start a work with great hope and then part way through go stale and abandon it, especially if the writing gets tough or the plot starts going nowhere. But I must say I am a finisher and rarely give up on a work even when it gets hard. There is satisfaction in just completing and often the work is better for struggling through some hard parts.
So, maybe I will get back to my original work, after all…
Happy New Year everyone!


5 comments:

  1. When I get a new story idea, I always work on it or plot it out until I hit a little roadblock. Usually I'll work on it for a few days and then get back to my other WIP. So maybe you can try the same thing...get your new story out of your system.

    Happy New Year!!!! :)

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  2. Happy New Year, Pat. Wishing you lots of success with your new project and hope that the words will flow freely throughout the year.

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  3. Happy new year Pat! Getting stuck with the WIP or the plot going astray is just part of the writing journey. It always happens to me at some point - so when it does I give myself some thinking space to work out why it went wrong. Once I identify the problem I set to fixing it. Like you I find it very hard to give up on a project but easy to put on the back burner for too long! Good luck with your writing in 2015!
    Janice xx

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  4. Thanks for your comments folks. I have now started on my wip again!!

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  5. Hello Pat, why not give yourself a date to restart your longer manuscript, and in the meantime write what you want? Short story, flash fiction, or a bit of non-fiction? Do set a 'done by date' though...otherwise you won't feel accountable.

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