The Cost of Progress

It's time for Kate's Sunday pulpit experience. It seems funny that I'd get this of all days to blog, since I tend towards the pontification when I write. *shrugs* Oh, well, it's just part of my charm, I guess. Hehehee

Now, as the title of this blog suggests, I'm going to talk about progress...not technology, not social, not even political...but more of an emotional as tied to the craft of writing.

Progress for writers can come in many shapes, sizes and forms. You can be progressing in your craft by improving on the scope of your themes, improving on grammar or syntax. You might even make progress on developing more three-dimensional characters. Your progress might mean slogging through a WIP that seems to be taking you forever to write, or it might mean knocking out a few novellas in a couple of months time. For me, it means finally seeing the light of day after a month of being bombarded by the "house cleaning" portion of the writer's life. That's the galleys, the edits, the submissions that writers must do to get to publication but is not involved in creating something knew. I'm talking a no first-draft zone here. And I'm Jonesing.

As a result of this, I think my brain is fried. I stare at my screen, cursor blinking and I'm like...Writing...what's that? I have no idea what to put on the page or how to start it. It's almost like the words have dried up. But they haven't...they're just having a hard time getting past the bottleneck in my brainstem.

For me, the cost of progress is draining. I'm run down and feel like I'm in desperate need of another month of nothing but staring off into space and not interacting with my own work. However, that's not even possible at this juncture since I have deadlines coming out my ears and books still unwritten that need me. I'm not in a position to not work on things. But maybe after the last galley is put away, I'll take an afternoon or two off to do something different. Like take my laptop to my local library and sit there and write for a while. THe only problem with that is leaving the thing for a pee break. I'd had to put it all away only to have to take it all out again. *sigh*

Anyhoo. I have to bolt. I have a book to start and one to finish.

Until next week, my Wicked Thorn and Roses,

-Kate