Battling the Blank Page

I have piles of editing to do, but I also need to keep up with my writing group.  So this week's push was to write two chapters.  Yes, just two.  And I just couldn't figure out what to write next that didn't repeat all that had gone on before.  So I'd write two or three lines to nudge the action forward then stop and stare at the screen.  I'm just not an outliner.  It works best for me to brainstorm a bit before I sit to write just so I know what's about to happen, then I sit and write.  But I haven't brainstormed recently.  So that blank page loomed large all week.

Then I did what I should have done in the first place, which was go to my brain trust.  It's a middle-grade fiction book, so I took my questions to my middle-grade kids.  What happens next?  They came up with a forward pathway right away.  Duh.  When all else fails, do the obvious: brainstorm.  Talk it through.  And that, my friends, is the path through the cold, white desolation of the blank page.

Seeking Motivation

                                                          (Time slipping by)

Every day, I mean to write in a meaningful way, or at least to use the feedback the editor sent.  Every day, it gets late by the time I finish everything else, and I only end up writing a bit on my middle-grade fiction novel or editing the sequel because it's less stressful and easier to take in small chunks.  And by the time I got to the end of the week and had a bit more time to myself, I was having vision problems...I was having a hard time seeing myself staring at a computer a moment longer than I had to.  When I was done with obligations, I was burned out from grading papers for teaching, answering emails, and doing all the other necessary functions as an online instructor.  I think I'll need to print the thing out, just to move forward with it.

This is the last big step before I can try to publish again.  I can do this.  Maybe I need to offer myself ice cream or a movie when I get it done because the ticking clock sure isn't helping.   Man, I'm so tired of editing.  I just want to write again.

The Editor's Review

So as I expected, the editor's review of my manuscript is a mixed bag.  I haven't had the chance to go over more than just the overview.  Much of it is very, very positive.  But there's still a long list of stuff I need to work on.  She didn't immediately discount my characters as unlikeable as at least one of my readers did, but she did give me pointers about how to make them more likeable, which is helpful.  I will have to go through the line by line suggestions.  I'm sure there is much from which I can learn.  And much work to do.

Sigh.  There is no such thing as a manuscript that is perfect.  I just have to achieve publishability.  That's still going to be a long haul.  But at least I know how I can do it.

Burned out

So much for my habit of writing every day.  I've started teaching 2 sections of an online course with a total of 80 students, 3 rounds of grading per.  It's eaten me alive.  Plus, I've been participating in my writers' group, giving feedback, plus having guests and a million other things.  So I've been writing one paragraph on my middle-grade fiction here and there and doing minimal revising of my sequel to the novel I submitted to the editor for review.  I think part of the issue was I was working so hard for so long on that project that I'm a little burned out.

But in the next few days, I'm supposed to get the editor's review back on my manuscript.  That was fast.  Within short order, I will have those comments plus some I already had to look over and employ on my book.  In the very near future, I will be up to my eyeballs in editing again.  But for now, I've been having vision problem: I've been having a hard time seeing how I could fit writing in and having a worse time finding the ambition to do so.  But that's all going to change momentarily.