Image by thorinside via Flickr
Since my last Work In Progress post, I have cobbled together my re-envisioning of the story, including a semi-new beginning and tweaking what I wrote so far to create a semblance of cohesion. I also sketched out the next few chapters, and am honestly excited to see what happens next. It’s sort of thrilling to get to new territory, especially since I lived in the first part of WIP2 for a couple of months. I feel like I knew that terrain, and how my characters would react there. I like the familiarity of those older, more established scenes, and love being able to add details here and there with each read-through.
But, now that I’m moving toward this really new next part where MC will be facing new characters and settings and challenges, I’m feeling my “blank page” issues a little bit. No matter how often I feel like I’ve conquered that little anxiety (believe me, I’m set up with affirmations and action plans galore!), it’s still there, noodling around in the back of my mind.
I know that I’m not really facing a blank page, and that I have a lot of material to get out of my head and on to the page. I just wish that The Looming Doubts weren’t, I dunno, genetically hardwired to my Ideas of Awesome That Must Be Written.
Anyway, I read these posts this morning. In their own way, they lessened the Looming Doubts, and increased the Ideas of Awesome.
- Writing Rituals, by Mindy Klasky
- Numbers, Comparisons, and Random Epic Fails, by Michele Shaw
- TED Tuesday: Ole to You Nonetheless, by D. B. Smyth
- What’s a Girl Worth? by Tamara
Liza Kane 
I am exactly the same way. I find that when I come to a new scene sometimes fear locks me up completely and I stall. When I finally push that stupid voice out of my head I can write and I wonder why I acted that way at all. Us writers are a weird bunch:)
Good luck on the next pages!
Thank you, and I KNOW RIGHT?? My muses need to learn ninja fighting skills or something, to beat back that annoying doubting voice!! I end up writing through it anyway, so if the doubting voices can just sshhhh! then the process will go So. Much. Faster!
Good luck with hitting those blank pages! It’s tricky to get to a new part and try to figure out where you’re going with it.
Thanks Shannon! I generally cringe my way through a page or two until I get warmed up and immersed in the story again. Hopefully, after a few days of this cringing, my muses will just take over. I’m starting to get a weird neck cramp 😉
Whenever I hit a blank page moment, I just write the scene I do know. There’s always one – even if it isn’t the one I planned on working on that day. Things will tie together, and it always helps to just start typing something.
Yes, I cringe and roll my eyes at myself a lot but I do crawl my way through a page until I get my groove back. This is why I tend to write late at night: I’m generally less self-conscious, and more sleep deprived. That way, if I write really weird stuff, I can just blame the lack of sleep!
Take that blank page and WRITE ALL OVER IT! 😀
Oh I do my friend…I write it up real nice! 😀
Aw! Thanks for listing my blog! I read that “What’s a Girl Worth?” post and WOW! Amazing stuff. Thanks for that link. I loathe the blank page, but that’s where it all starts and we get past it each time. Sometimes with a friend, a drink, or a piece of chocolate, but we get there when it’s time:) xo
You’re welcome! And, I know right??
Anyway, I get over my issues because I secretly love doing things that scare the crap out of me. So, I’m not only a caffeine junkie, I seem to be an adrenaline junkie, too 😉