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What to do in Times of Writing Resistance.

I have written about writing resistance before, but seeing as I am currently in a slump, I thought I would bring the topic up again.

I'm having some troubles with a short story.

I wrote one for a deadline and because I had only finished the draft the day it was due for submission, I didn't get a chance to edit it.  It got rejected (which wasn't a huge shocker to me), and quite frankly I was a little relieved because that meant that I could polish it.

I found another place that was accepting submissions, so I thought "Perfect!" and I got to editing.

Only I wasn't really editing.  I was just cutting.

My story was well over the word limit for this particular journal, so I just started cutting.  I chopped and chopped and chopped and eventually I just had a collection of fragmented sentences that were sort of going in a direction, but not really telling a story. 

In the midst of all of this cutting, I missed the deadline for that journal too.

So I scrapped and started over. I am still not finished with it though. 

I could think of a lot of excuses as to why I'm having so much trouble: work, stress, time management, etc.  And while those are hurdles that I am constantly overcoming, the truth of the matter is, is that those things often don't completely keep me from writing.  They may make it tough to write everyday, or write a lot in one sitting, but they don't keep me from creating. 

Resistance does.

I think I've mentioned before that I am not much of a believer in writer's block.  But I am a believer in resistance and sometimes the only cure for resistance....is to resist.

There is only a little bit of time left in March, and I am allowing myself to not write during that time if that is what is best for me. 

I have been taking some precautions to get the creative juices flowing though.

  • Reading
  • Listening to Podcasts (I will share which ones I'm listening to in another post)
  • Watching Documentaries (I will share a recommendation in another post)
  • Self-Care. 
But I came to another realization when I was chatting with a friend earlier today. She was asking me about writing short stories and how she could go about learning how to write one, and my advice was to read a lot of short stories, to take notes about which ones she liked or didn't like.  To notice what writers don't describe as opposed to what they do. etc.  And that got me thinking:

When was the last time I read a short story?

The answer is....a LOOOONG time ago.

I've been focusing so much on what I'm consuming to inspire my larger novel projects, that I haven't done much to feed the short story writing part of my brain. 

So that's next.  Once I finish one of the books I'm reading, I think I'll dive into some short story anthologies. 

Next month is Camp NaNoWriMo!

If you are participating, let me know.

Memento Mori
&;


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