A cool, clear and beautiful morning in New Orleans and I need to get started on a new story. Have lots of ideas, but how do I decide? I could do a series off my last romantic suspense, or I could write a new romantic suspense, or a new contemporary. My first fiction pub is coming out April 10 – on Amazon Select– The Red Halter Top. Excited!!
But I have to keep writing, and I feel all adrift. I finished the ending of my historical romance Saturday– The Third Wife, and I need to edit it one more time before sending it off. The question there is where to send it?
I’ve been reading some of the craft books I have – re-reading and checking out how to start with a bang. Mostly they make me feel like I’ve done everything wrong in the novels I’ve finished. I’m enrolled in an on-line class, and I find these less than satisfying because they mostly consist of lectures. Only rarely do I find a class where the teacher is willing to have you send in examples for their feedback. I don’t blame the others for not giving specific feedback. That is a lot of work. But lectures aren’t much different from reading a book.
Attached are pictures of my sewing table and my desk — I have my computer on a cheap, Walmart table in front of all that mess. Think maybe I should first clean up my office?
Perhaps I just have Spring fever. How are you doing? Is it Spring where you are? Or are you still stuck in cold, snowy winter? Let me hear from you.
Decisions, decisions. I know exactly how you feel. And what I do is I start about 3 projects then decide which one I’m most interested in at the time. I have folders for a horror novella, a fantasy novella, a full romantic suspense set during the Korean War and my current Navy SEAL book. I write on the one I think is most important, then if I get stuck, I move on to the next until I get fresh ideas.
And your desk and your sewing table look like my desk and my art table, so I’d feel right a home.
We still have winter here. And my forsythia, and daffodils were blooming so beautifully too. Darn.
Flip a coin Alice and I’ll be waiting to read whatever you decide on the crit loop.
Teresa
LikeLike
I seem to be suffering from the same malady. Finding it tough to return to my novel. As for the messy desk, mine is just as bad.
LikeLike
You know how I do it; take time out clear my desk and go for a walk. Through this time I think about anything else other than writing. When I come back I then decide on which direction I want to take the reader to. Think about what you want to say and how you exactly want it interpreted and understood by the reader.
Sometimes you just need to put down all the thoughts and ideas you have and recollect them at a later stage.
Whichever way, keep writing in a clear space. 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Red Letter Day-First Publication | Alice Abel Kemp's Blog