I’ve had a really hard time making progress on the first draft of my current work-in-progress, which will likely be the last book in my Oregon historical fiction series. I started it in late May 2023, and I’m not done with the first draft yet, though I’m beginning to see the end.
It’s frustrating, because I know I can write faster when I have time to sit in front of my computer. After all, I did the entire first draft of Safe Thus Far during NaNoWriMo in 2020—95,000 words in thirty days. And most of my first drafts have taken me about six months.
All it really takes to make progress is “butt in chair”. But currently, my non-writing life is in more upheaval than it’s been in many years, though I can’t go into all the reasons for that now.
I have to keep telling myself that life happens, and each book must progress in its own time. I don’t have writer’s block, I have conflicting priorities. I struggle to find two or three writing sessions per week.
In the last month, though, my sense of hope that I can in fact complete this draft has returned. After a very dry January (due to Covid) and February (due to travel and tax preparation), I’ve found some time recently to write. When I can sit down with my Scrivener file for this novel, I can make decent progress—about 1000-1500 words per session. In the last few weeks, I’ve managed to write 10,000 words. Not much by my NaNoWriMo standard, but enough to let me see the light at the end of this tunnel.
My goal is to stay ahead of my critique group, which reviews ten pages of my manuscript most weeks. I was struggling to meet this goal earlier in the year, but I am now gaining a little ground on them. I’ve been tempted to write the ending of the book, then fill in the last quarter of the draft. But I want my critique partners to have a sense of the plot as it develops, so I feel confined to write the story chronologically.
I will celebrate when I finally reach the end, which I estimate will happen by late May this year—a full year after I started.
And then, of course, I’ll go back to the beginning and start Draft 2. Unfortunately, I often find that Drafts 2 and 3 are where the really hard work gets done. I hope my energy for this book continues to grow.
God willing and the creek don’t rise.
When have you felt stalled on a project, and how do you get your momentum back?
When life gets in the way, Covid, etc., it is difficult to funnel appropriate energy into any project. After 4 years of not getting Covid, we did: husband first, then me. We both had rebound as well, coincidentally(?) after being treated with Paxlovid. Half of February and now half of March have seen me putting the creative work aside. I am still in rebound status which I hope disappears soon. My rebound was 100% worse than my experience with Covid Part 1, during which my symptoms were barely noticeable. Rebound has been HORRIBLE. My wish for you, and all creatives, is that the juices flow onto the written page soon.
Irene, your experience was almost identical to mine. Rebound worse than the first phase. I hope you feel better soon. Theresa