Writing with Momentum. Finally.

Momentum. It’s a funny thing.

One day you’re wallowing the frustration that comes with the dreaded writer’s block. Words fall onto the page in drips. A word here. A sentence there. Maybe on a good day you’ll get a whole paragraph. Some days, you won’t write anything at all.

A few weeks or months go by. And all of a sudden, something clicks. A switch flicks in your brain and the words flow. It’s hard to pin point exactly what changes. But like fresh air filling your lungs, words fill the page.

You’ll know from my previous blog posts that I have been struggling with my writing. Lockdown got me down and writing became more like a chore. Every week, I would make slow and steady progress. Nothing to brag about. I’d watch the word count of each chapter creep higher. A hundred words here. Twenty or so there. As long as I was making some progress, I considered it a win.

This past month, even as our lockdown drags on and my frustration builds, my writing has improved. I don’t know what triggered it. Maybe, it was inspiration from my writing critique group (which has been working double-time over lockdown). Perhaps, after almost 30 chapters, I finally ‘got’ my characters. Or, maybe, as we near the last third of our book and the drama ramps up, I am racing to get to the end.

Whatever it is, I am finally writing again. And at pace (well at pace for me). I’ve already written 6000 words this month. Double my previous efforts. I have a clear picture in my mind of where I want my next chapters to go. I have motivation. I’m determined to get this novel finished.

I don’t know how long this current wave of momentum will last. But I hope it will carry me for a while.

It’s refreshing to finally feel like I’m making progress again. Good progress.

How is your writing going? How do you deal with the ups and downs that come with writing? Let me know in the comments below.

-A

Still in lockdown, folks.

Here’s a picture of my dog with a giant ‘stick’. He loves sticks with his whole being.

-A