Addicted, Deserts, and Comics. No relation.
Addicted:
On Monday, I finished the rough draft of my current project, The Freezer. Hooray!
On Tuesday, I decided to take some time off from writing, perhaps three weeks or so, but mostly some time off from getting up at five in the morning.
This morning, I decided that taking time off from writing so I could sleep in was like taking time off from breathing so I wouldn't have to smell the cows across the road.
When I'm not writing, I feel demotivated from doing anything. I feel blah. Directionless. Since I started writing seriously—what was it?—three years ago, every aspect of my life has grown brighter and more defined, like turning up the saturation and contrast on an old TV. I can't even begin to understand why. I feel like writing is what I do, what I must do, what I was—forgive me—born to do. I can't go back, now. I'm too addicted to whatever it does for me.
But I want to give myself a little space from my manuscript before diving into revisions. I am therefore working on a new project based on an old idea. Not writing, mind you. Merely brainstorming and plotting. Thinking. Daydreaming. I must schedule some time to daydream. At five in the morning. That's worth getting up for, even if it stinks sometimes. (Metaphorically speaking.)
Deserts:
As in just deserts. (And yes, that's how you spell it. I checked.) And this is good deserts for someone who's helped me and countless other writers. Krista Van Dolzer recently signed with Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary. (Which I guess is also spelled that way. I checked.) Ever since she let me beta read her last manuscript, I've been waiting for this. (Because if it didn't get picked up, it was hopeless for me.)
But there's hope for the rest of us! (I guess. There's no way to check.)
Comics:
Some of you may remember my very first author interview. No, wait. That was me. You may remember the second interview. That was my brother, Caleb. (Everyone just called him Spendlove all through high school despite his being the sixth Spendlove in the family to go to that school and no one ever calling any of the rest of us by our last name.)
Anyway, he's been writing (and drawing and coloring) a web comic called Bender for a couple of months now. It's a sci-fi adventure, published thrice a week, and it's pretty good. It's always amusing, sometimes really funny, and the artwork's not bad. (Better than Howard Tayler's early work.)
Check it out. (Yes, that's an order—ensign!) Start at the beginning if you like. (He was still figuring out how to scan and color back then.) Here's one of my favorites from recently. Makes me laugh.
On Monday, I finished the rough draft of my current project, The Freezer. Hooray!
On Tuesday, I decided to take some time off from writing, perhaps three weeks or so, but mostly some time off from getting up at five in the morning.
This morning, I decided that taking time off from writing so I could sleep in was like taking time off from breathing so I wouldn't have to smell the cows across the road.
When I'm not writing, I feel demotivated from doing anything. I feel blah. Directionless. Since I started writing seriously—what was it?—three years ago, every aspect of my life has grown brighter and more defined, like turning up the saturation and contrast on an old TV. I can't even begin to understand why. I feel like writing is what I do, what I must do, what I was—forgive me—born to do. I can't go back, now. I'm too addicted to whatever it does for me.
But I want to give myself a little space from my manuscript before diving into revisions. I am therefore working on a new project based on an old idea. Not writing, mind you. Merely brainstorming and plotting. Thinking. Daydreaming. I must schedule some time to daydream. At five in the morning. That's worth getting up for, even if it stinks sometimes. (Metaphorically speaking.)
Deserts:
As in just deserts. (And yes, that's how you spell it. I checked.) And this is good deserts for someone who's helped me and countless other writers. Krista Van Dolzer recently signed with Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary. (Which I guess is also spelled that way. I checked.) Ever since she let me beta read her last manuscript, I've been waiting for this. (Because if it didn't get picked up, it was hopeless for me.)
But there's hope for the rest of us! (I guess. There's no way to check.)
Comics:
Some of you may remember my very first author interview. No, wait. That was me. You may remember the second interview. That was my brother, Caleb. (Everyone just called him Spendlove all through high school despite his being the sixth Spendlove in the family to go to that school and no one ever calling any of the rest of us by our last name.)
Anyway, he's been writing (and drawing and coloring) a web comic called Bender for a couple of months now. It's a sci-fi adventure, published thrice a week, and it's pretty good. It's always amusing, sometimes really funny, and the artwork's not bad. (Better than Howard Tayler's early work.)
Check it out. (Yes, that's an order—ensign!) Start at the beginning if you like. (He was still figuring out how to scan and color back then.) Here's one of my favorites from recently. Makes me laugh.
Congratulations on finishing The Freezer - and good luck with the new one :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out, Ben! And good luck with THE FREEZER. I'm so impressed that you can step back from your projects; I still have a really tough time doing that.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing the first draft! That's exciting. Let me know if you need a reader. I was about 70% through my first draft, but I got majorly blocked and gave the whole thing to a friend who ended up finding holes throughout the whole thing. So now I'm completely rewriting the first 25%. Meh.
ReplyDeleteMazel tov on the completion of your first draft! And good on you for continuing to work on writing while taking a break - very smart to gain some distance without losing momentum on doing the things that make your heart sing.
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic