Wow, 40 days into the new year! No flood, but lots of snow--about 12”-13" now. In fact, it's 7:36 PM, and that humming sound outside my window is our next door neighbor snow blowing our front sidewalks. He’s done it nearly every evening since it began to snow last weekend. I think he secretly likes to do it.
A positive frame of mind certainly is the difference between enjoy a task and having it feel like a chore. Take my edits, for instance. Tonight, I finished editing chapter 17 (for the 3rd or 4th time due to plot changes). That puts me at nearly the midpoint ... again. The problem with making major changes to the manuscript is that no matter how many notes I make or charts I draw, I still have all the old junk in my head battling with anything new I want to write. It’s oh so much nicer it when the writing flies from my head to my fingertips. Right now it feels as if the words are locked up in my head and every door they come to is locked. I’ve been hearing a lot of rattling going on in there lately.
Anyway, I know what’s wrong. It’s no secret. I've read it too many times. The best thing to do is to take a few days, maybe the rest of the week. Maybe two weeks, if I can stand it, to refresh my eyes and open my mind to a new set of possibilities.
Then all will be fine again.
