Juggling Three Projects...Still

I remain in the midst of pulling my life back together after an unequivocally traumatic summer. I feel that I am making progress, thankfully, as two blog entries within a week should reveal. :)

I have spent my writing time since the last entry researching for what I intend to be my next novel. Every day, I start out rebelliously, having to force myself to get back into it. When all one wants to do is write, the necessity of pre-writing research can be tedious, especially when it is clear that a novel will require a great deal. Still, every time I finally run out of excuses and get into the rhythm of my note-taking and organizing, I can only stop when my vision begins to blur and my eyes feel as though they are on fire, no matter how many times I try to blink the tired away. I am very much enjoying preparing the way for this novel.

I still hope to finish my two open short stories this month as well, even though for the past week this research has consumed me. I hate to walk away from a piece of fiction before I have finished a rough draft, because I get out of the story's rhythm. In order to get back in, I have to re-read what I wrote however long before, which leads to editing as I go, and then reviewing the outline of what's to come and imagining how I intend to tackle it, all of which takes a great deal of creative energy and leaves me unwilling to start writing new scenes until I am fresh again. So, it takes two days for me to get back into a project I've left waiting, and I always feel that I've wasted my time on that first day just getting reacquainted with the material, so I usually put off getting back to the project longer, because I don't want to have a wasted day. Of course the time spent is not a waste, but if I would just stick with a project from the beginning, I'd never have to refresh myself on what I'd been doing at all! I frustrate myself to no end as a writer.

Nevertheless, I do intend to get back to both of these stories this month, before I begin writing in earnest on this new novel, which I will very much endeavor to stick with beginning to end, without any of my usual self-afflicted interruptions. :)