I’m starting to feel like these updates are pointless.

I’d hoped to have good news, and say I’d finished my revisions…but another month has passed and that’s not the case.

It’s not for a lack of wanting to write. I do write. I write blog posts, and these shiny new ideas that pop into my head. I just don’t work on my SF WIP. And it’s also not for a lack of wanting to work on my SF WIP. I feel the need, the urge to get back to the characters, the world. I want to work on it, I just sit down and stare at the document.

Maybe it’s a whole culmination of things that put up this wall in my brain. Maybe I’m just lazy.

But despite the few shiny ideas, and random scenes that have popped into my head, I’ve started taking baby steps. I started with re-reading the chapters I’ve already revised. Other than a few typos, I made no changes to the story.

Then, once I finished re-read those chapters, I moved backwards, to my last full draft. I can’t even tell you the last time I read it in full, so in an effort to familiarize myself and inspire myself, I decided to read it.

It’s kind of crazy how much I’ve changed as a writer since I wrote that last full draft. I was feeling insecure about my revised draft, thinking that I’d maybe cut too many words, condensed it too much. Turns out that feeling of insecurity is unfounded, because I actually can’t stand how wordy and long winded, I was in my last full draft.

I know I need to continue to reread it, but damn. Now, it’s not all bad, there are some scenes that I like, that I ultimately condensed, but on an overarching scale, it’s so clear to me now that, that draft was entirely too long.

I remember feeling slightly miffed when people told me that. Now, comparing it to my current draft, I know that this one is right.

I’ve known what the story is for a while now, and pat of the reason I don’t feel inclined to write is that it’s written in my head, and I get annoyed when I open the doc and it’s not completed. It’s ridiculous, because the book isn’t going to write itself, and I could probably easily knock out the last half of the revisions if I would just sit my ass in a chair.

So, that’s the new goal.

Finish re-reading the draft, and then knock out the second half of the revisions.

On the topic of other things, I’ve written – I’ve been bombarded with scenes and new ideas that won’t leave me alone.

There’s one project I’ve dubbed Phantom City WIP. I kind of have a whole premise for this idea. It’s sort of a sci-fi, zombie apocalypse, dystopian book.

Another that’s this Upper YA/NA Vampire Book. I legit only have one scene, and not much else, but it’s been sitting in my brain, marinating.

I also have the project I’m dubbing Pandemic WIP – I might’ve mentioned this one in the last Writing Update post. I was able to combine 3 different story ideas/scenes that didn’t have much in the way of plot. Surprisingly they all work really well together.

Finally, and I’m getting so far ahead of myself on this one, but inspiration struck, and I had to write it. It’s a scene from my SF WIP…well the hopeful series that I would love to write after the first one. It would either be at the end of Book 2 or the very beginning of book 3. It’s a pretty emotionally charged scene and I legit couldn’t think of anything else, so I had to write it.

You know, I started this post feeling really shitty. Like an imposter who will never amount to anything with her writing. Sometimes it just takes a little reflection to realize that what seemed like an unproductive writing month, really wasn’t. Sure, I didn’t work on the WIP I probably should have been working on, but I have been writing, and I took steps to get back to actively working on my WIP. I need to give myself a break.

If you’re working on a WIP, I hope you’re giving yourself some slack, and are having better luck than me. One of these days we’ll finish our WIPs!