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.

Choked

So much for my writing deadline.  It doesn't help when I know the due dates are artificial.  I got a lot of work done toward getting my manuscript edited by the deadline.  But a lot is not the same as all, not by half.  I knew deep down [or not so deep down] that the deadline wouldn't make me or break me.  I want this manuscript done and sent to the editor.  I want to move on to my other book for a while.  But it's really hard to sit and use as much time as is necessary to get it all done.  So I had to extend.  I just hope I don't have to extend again.

It's not that an extension is all bad.  I have more time.  But this puts off my submission to another publisher even more.  It means people who might be helped along in their healing process have to wait that much longer for my novel.  It frustrates me to fail in even this artificial a due date.  I just need to find a way to motivate myself, a set number of hours to work on this project daily and a reward [maybe something without excessive calories] to give myself every time I succeed in meeting that goal.  I know I can do this.  I just need to do it.  It's so much more fun to do the actual writing.

Back to Editing

I'm almost done with my rough draft for my second book, Pigs Fly.  I know there are parts that need to be beefed up, particularly the spiritual parts, a few characters that more or less disappear, subplots I planned to write but haven't, and especially spiritual parts.  However, mostly, I need to let the editor side of my brain back in the door.

Mostly, I just write my first draft.  I let the words flow naturally.  If something needs to be edited or substantially altered, I just note that without going there and move on.  I have written most of my important scenes, sewn them together, and smoothed out the plotline.  Now, I can open the door and let my internal editor tackle it.  While she's in the room, I also need to let her take a serious crack at that first manuscript.  I just dread this part.  The fun part is letting my imagination go nuts.  It's play for me.  Now, I feel like I'm having to go back to work.  When I wrote my first book, After the Dream, I took about six months to get to this point.  Once again, it's been six months.  I just pray it doesn't take me the same twelve months to get the work part out of the way, so I can get back to playing.