It's a relatively short Notes In The Margin this week, I'm afraid. I've been doing lots of thinking.
Sometimes that's a good thing. Other times it's not such a good thing. There appears to be a fine line between thinking things through thoroughly and over-thinking them. When you're the kind of person who likes to consider every aspect of a situation before you commit to action, then it's hard to actually see where that fine line is.
I'm not sure how one combats that. I still need to think it through some more...
So, anyway...lots of thinking and not very much doing this week.
After nearly five months of constantly pushing myself to get the fourth draft finished, spending as much time as I could editing and the rest of the time stressing that I should be working on it, I've found this past week an odd mix of blissful relief and sheer panic.
I'm relieved it's done now - although, I do still have the audio beta edition to record - but I'm also experiencing a strange twitchiness at not having anything to do. It's like a writing low-level cold turkey. My writing brain has learned over these last five months that inactivity is the enemy and it's wrong not to be working on the novel. On the other hand my normal brain is saying "thank goodness I don't have to edit/write/create tonight!".
Of-course I haven't stopped all writing activity. As if it were that easy! As I mentioned, there's the audio book beta to record and I have a dozen ideas for novels queuing-up for my attention. My imagination is never truly idle. There's always something brewing away in that corner of my mind. Like chunks of rock in new born solar system, some of those fragments will coalesce into larger moon-sized plot points, scenes, or characters. Slowly, over time, planets of narrative will develop and the orbital plot threads will spin it all together until the whole thing is spinning harmoniously around the sun of the central premise blazing away with glorious radiance.
And other ideas will vanish into a black hole never to be seen again...
Actually, they disappear into one of my real, or digital notebooks, but that can be just as devastating as falling into a black hole!
See. I started over-thinking things again. I should stop now and try to switch off. No, I will switch off now. "Do, or do not. There is no try" as one wise little green Jedi fella once said (Yoda, in-case you were wondering).
Before I do stop, I'll just jot down one last idea that I've just had that I think will fit nicely into the next novel...
After nearly five months of constantly pushing myself to get the fourth draft finished, spending as much time as I could editing and the rest of the time stressing that I should be working on it, I've found this past week an odd mix of blissful relief and sheer panic.
I'm relieved it's done now - although, I do still have the audio beta edition to record - but I'm also experiencing a strange twitchiness at not having anything to do. It's like a writing low-level cold turkey. My writing brain has learned over these last five months that inactivity is the enemy and it's wrong not to be working on the novel. On the other hand my normal brain is saying "thank goodness I don't have to edit/write/create tonight!".
Of-course I haven't stopped all writing activity. As if it were that easy! As I mentioned, there's the audio book beta to record and I have a dozen ideas for novels queuing-up for my attention. My imagination is never truly idle. There's always something brewing away in that corner of my mind. Like chunks of rock in new born solar system, some of those fragments will coalesce into larger moon-sized plot points, scenes, or characters. Slowly, over time, planets of narrative will develop and the orbital plot threads will spin it all together until the whole thing is spinning harmoniously around the sun of the central premise blazing away with glorious radiance.
And other ideas will vanish into a black hole never to be seen again...
Actually, they disappear into one of my real, or digital notebooks, but that can be just as devastating as falling into a black hole!
See. I started over-thinking things again. I should stop now and try to switch off. No, I will switch off now. "Do, or do not. There is no try" as one wise little green Jedi fella once said (Yoda, in-case you were wondering).
Before I do stop, I'll just jot down one last idea that I've just had that I think will fit nicely into the next novel...
