I, like so many people, sometimes deal with dry spells when it comes to creativity. Lord knows I am in one now. I help people deal with these often as a book coach and in my writing group, but the shoe is now on the other foot, and I’m whining and kicking my feet about it like anybody does. Also, this time, my own advice isn’t helping.
I’ve been wrestling with this slump for over a week now, and nothing’s been coming out how I want it. No art, writing, music, or anything else seems to be doing what I want it to do, going to the gym isn’t getting things moving, and right now I think I just need to give myself some breathing room. While I am a big fan of helping writers get back on the horse, it’s also important to know when the horse is just tired, and it’s too hot for this, and maybe it’s picked up a stone in its hoofand needs some down time. And a good hoof cleaning.
Work toward the release of book one is going well, and my beating my head against the wall of book two is where I’m stuck. I’m more than halfway through the novel in terms of story events and 45k in on word count, but I am just stuck on how to get from the beat I’m at to the beat I’m headed for. It’ll come to me, but I just haven’t been able to get my brain into the mode.
I advise writing every day, and I suggest a lot of things when dealing with creative block. I also have been taking my own advice (reading, exercise, talking it over with friends, making sure I’m hydrated/fed, etc.) but sometimes things just don’t happen. I can’t speak for last week, but for me this week hasn’t been going well. It’s been a perfect storms of severe heat and humidity for where I live, migraines, an Ehlers-Danlos pain flare, and messing with my sleep schedule. As well as life in general just being a jerk.
It’s okay to have times when the creativity just isn’t happening. Whether it’s for a few weeks or a few months. I’m not really behind schedule because my goal is to release a book a year, and book one isn’t due out until January of 2022. I pushed the release off so as to not compete with Big Five marketing around the holidays. So I have until 2023 to finish the fool thing, and I’m better than halfway done with the first draft. Also, I have a second series I’m looking at under a pen name that’s been trying to get my attention, though I don’t know how much I’ll be doing with that if anything. I may just write it to get it out of my system and then go back to what I’m better known for.
Right now, though, I am pretty sure my body and brain are just demanding rest.
E. Prybylski has been in the publishing industry as an editor since 2009, starting at Divertir Publishing and eventually partnering with her close friend Richard Belanger to begin Insomnia Publishing.
Ever since childhood, E. has been an avid reader and writer of fantasy. The first chapter book she remembers reading is The Hobbit, followed swiftly by most of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. In high school, she perfected the skill of walking while reading without slamming into anyone. Mostly.
When she isn’t reading or writing, E. is an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and has a B.A. in European history from SNHU. In addition to her many historical pursuits, E. is a musician of multiple instruments, a cat mom, and a loving wife to her husband, J. E. also speaks out for the disability and chronic illness communities being a sufferer of chronic migraines and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
