Some days, it just doesn’t work

Today is one of just two days I have remaining before I’ll be out of quiet writing time until the 4th of January when the school holidays are over. I have errands to run: I’m nowhere near finished Christmas shopping, the cupboards are nearly bare, and I think we’re running low on TP. But when I realized this was it for dedicated writing time, I made the decision to lock myself in the house for the duration of the school day – my available writing hours – and use that time wisely. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

I got to it early. No messing around online, no procrastination. Pretty good stuff. I read over the last bit I wrote and that’s when the trouble started. I have NO idea where I’m going next. None. I have a sense of where this book needs to end up, sort of, and a few scenes already written that need to be worked in, but they don’t influence what’s happening right this minute in the MS, and right now… nada. And in 90 minutes, my writing day will be over.

How do you deal with it when that happens to you? I procrastinate, mostly, until something clicks. I’m not an outliner or someone who can interview her characters or any of that sort of thing. Those techniques just don’t work for me. So I walk away and do something else for awhile while my subconscious chews on the problem. Usually, I email a friend. If I’m lucky, the friend will email back and the social interaction is enough to shift gears in my head and let me find a way to the next bit.

This one’s being stubborn. I’ve been stuck here awhile. I know just what the problem is, but not how to fix it. It’ll come, if I’m patient. Watching the minutes tick away on my writing time makes patience a difficult proposition, but I’m trying.

In the meantime, at least I got a blog post up. That counts as being productive, right?