what we have here ...

[truepenny]

... is a critical motivation failure.

I don't know what happened. Monday I worked out a snarl in Summerdown, made good and interesting progress on Cormorant Child . . . Tuesday I woke up with nothing.

No words, no ideas, no interest.

Zip, zilch, zero, and nada.

My current best theory is that this is the meat-puppet's fault, what with the hormones and PMS and everything, but unfortunately this is one of those things where self-knowledge doesn't do me any damn good. I'm still sitting here with my inner two year old sobbing drearily, don't WANNA.

And I still have to turn in approximately 175,000 words on August first. Of which I have 37,445, in a draft that is not exactly what I want my editor to see. And while I have no official deadline or commitment for Cormorant Child, it would be REALLY SUPER to have something that, oh, around about September first, could be presented to my editor as an option novel.

(I also have a Bossycatzilla who is seriously about to be earmuffs.)

So this is where I have to suck it up and deal. Go through the motions and have faith, as in Barbara Hambly's Silicon Mage books, that the magic will come back.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Going through the motions might fool you into thinking you actually have what you don't right now...

maybe a reward at the end?

[gerbilicous.livejournal.com]

Comfort! (http://www.stuffonmycat.com)

[jdparadise.livejournal.com]

Just get 'em down. When you get to a second draft, you won't even know which part it was that you weren't motivated through...

[andartha.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the moon-phase or something? I have to hand in a paper tomorrow and started the morning highly optimistic and motivated...only to surf the internet for stories all day....

*crossing my fingers that both of us will have more luck tomorrow*

[kelljones.livejournal.com]

I read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp (http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Habit-Learn-Use-Life/dp/0743235274/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1828687-1860745?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173408201&sr=8-1) recently, and she talks a lot about the need to be creative on demand, and how to cultivate that ability.

In my mind, some of her thinking translated to practical ideas about how to cut out the "i don't wanna" "try and make me" "okay fine" steps that were exhausting me before I even started. Basically, trying to make myself salivate when I ring a bell. Er, to write. You know.

Note: this is different than waiting for something to "cook," but you might check it out anyway... It was much more practical and concrete than I expected.

(Please excuse the presumption of offering advice without having introduced myself!)

[amy34.livejournal.com]

Go through the motions and have faith, as in Barbara Hambly's Silicon Mage books, that the magic will come back.

Oh, I know exactly what you're referring to, and it's so neat to see a reference to those Silicon Mage books! Those books got me where it counts, and I'm not sure there's anything in my collection quite so dog-eared.

Back to lurkdom...