Now that things are settling down a bit, I’m left pondering a whole new bag of mysteries. I feel a lot of interest with my novella, M. It’s something I want to write, and in general, I definitely feel like playing the author game at the moment. There’s no sense of “writer’s block”, nothing like that. Nevertheless, this one isn’t coming easily. There’s a lot of dragging and struggling; the words come in bursts, then I don’t know what I’m doing again.
Instead of getting frustrated at the progress, I’ve just adapted. I handwrite as much as I can, and when I’m stuck, I leave it for a bit. Then I transcribe it all into my computer, making whatever necessary minor edits along the way, and find myself hooked back into the story long enough to spurt out another few hundred words – handwritten, so I can follow this same, convoluted pattern next time.
All I can really say is, I’m getting there. I don’t know why it’s so slow going when I’m excited, and happy with the story. I can’t see what’s halting me all the time. Maybe I’m just feeling more easily distracted than I realise.
There’s no foolproof, 100% guaranteed method for anyone. Some people write to a word count, some people write for a time limit, some people are surely getting outside help from the magic realm to write consistently and persistently as a proper, fulltime experience. Plenty of writers that I respect and admire write a hefty chunk a couple of days a week, and don’t even look at their stories at other times. Meanwhile, others would swear black and blue that the only way, the ONLY WAY, is to write every single day without fail.
I rebel against rules, so there’s definitely no single option open to me. I’ll do whatever works this time, and just remind myself to adapt again when it stops working.
And put just a little bit on blame on the other stories in my head that want to be written. Maybe what I really need to do is figure out how to divide my writing time to include work on multiple projects at once… (now wasn’t I just saying I need to do the exact opposite of that?).
~A
The Fane 
I loved how you say you rebel against rules — ME TOO! If someone says something has to be done a certain way, it’s a surefire fail for me. My biggest challenge is to keep doing what I want to do while blocking out all advice good or bad, which will often throw me into a tailspin. I know of what you write!
There’s that part of the brain that hears the order in something and immediately shies away. Usually that’s only a problem in writing, and I think it’s something to do with there being so much more conflicting advice. But sometimes it’s gotta be some secret innate wisdom that knows better – at least for our own personal journey!
~A
I say it’s important to do what you can until the job is done. I think a lot of writers prescribe to a method they believe works for them, but when it stops working for them, they refuse to try something else. (“Outline? I’m a pantser!” “Just write? I’m an outliner!”)
I frequently switch things up. Rules? Are there rules? That just means they’re meant to be broken! 😀
Oh yeah, and then you have the ol’ favourite fallback: something stopped working, now they have writer’s block. Couldn’t be that they just need a new perspective or to try something different. 😉
~A