...and Unstuck

A few days later, I got around to articulating, in writing, what had me stuck:

Thursday, July 5: Realized Tuesday afternoon that that's what it looks like when the goal of 600 words per day gets in the way. Because I was so set on getting 600 new words on the page, I wouldn't let myself play or entertain any other ideas, wouldn't let myself read something else to see how another author handles the scenes in between, etc. Nope, just sat, butt in chair, and spun in place. Did mental jumping jacks trying to churn out a new scene or idea that I wanted to run with instead of writing and exploring. Instead of jumping into the action somewhere and seeing where it took me.

The a-ha moment about how to get unstuck arrived a week later, after I got fixated on the word count yet again:

Thursday, July 12: I need to spend less time thinking of the "just right" (note: I purposely did not say "perfect") scene to write and just get down to writing. Why? Because I've noticed that I often do multiple takes of the same scene. It goes like this: I start a scene, run out of energy/words or think of a different way to approach it because of something that surfaces/emerges as I write, and I start over with Take 2, borrowing only some of my favorite lines or snippets from the first take, if any. Which brings me right back to a writing truism (from Louise Doughty's book A Novel in a Year) written on a hot-pink sticky note above my computer monitor: "Often, the only way to discover what happens next is to start writing and see what comes."

Some mornings, that is easier said than done. But it's great advice!