All writers know there’s a spectrum of activities involved in their daily routine depicted by the rainbow in the photo. Writing a new manuscript, editing, providing feedback to other writers, writing blogs, updating websites, admin, finding publishers, to name a few. Some of these need a clear head, others can be done at most times. For example, if I’m writing new fiction, I set aside time first thing, whereas editing can be done up to about 6 pm.
For the last week, I’ve been struggling to write my novel. Usually, I’m motivated to get up and begin immediately. But I’ve felt a lack of incentive, and have done other things instead, such as writing this blog.
I also received substantial feedback from my last online writers’ group. Sometimes I need a break before coming back and reevaluating everything. Going through the comments takes time and needs to be done instead of writing new material.
I’ve also edited the Enigma Machine manuscript, which I’m hoping to publish with my husband. As mentioned in an earlier post, this is work I’ve returned to after approximately five years. Just running a new grammar check on it is taking hours.
Occasionally, I have an hour or two in town before meeting someone. I go to a café, with my laptop, buy a nice drink, and spend the time writing. It’s a useful time to read submissions from other people in my group. Or a good chance to edit work.
If I can’t find anything that’s writing-related that I feel able to do, then there are plenty of other tasks – such as accounts or sending emails. The takeaway from this is: remember that there is a spectrum of tasks involved in writing, and if you can’t write what you’d like to, then do something related that is useful until you can.