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Hahahahahaha burnout.
Jun. 14th, 2019 04:11 pmI'm starting to wonder if I've done blown my wad, literarily speaking. Used to be I'd reliably write a novel, novel and a half a year, and I had more ideas than I could run after. For the last couple of years, though, I start writing a novel or two, then shake my head at it and set it aside, uninspired and kind of disgusted.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the main one might be, weirdly, that I wrote the thing I wanted to write. Nearly all my stuff going back a decade has been centered around the theme of the day the bill comes due--stories about people making bad short-term decisions, hoping they can stave off the reckoning.
Then my writing partner and I wrote DHNN. And, uh, we *nailed* it. I came up with a character that is the living embodiment of short-term thinking, and we wrapped her in a kick-ass story with a great voice and one of the weirder world-building exercises either of us has engaged in. Usually I finish writing something, sit back, look at it, and say, "Huh. So that's finished. No idea if it's any good..." Not this time. We fucking nailed it, and it says everything I wanted to say on that particular theme. It would be ridiculous to tackle that theme again, because I can't do it any better than that.
And now I'm adrift. I can't seem to conjure up that particular energy in the writing, and I can't seem to find a theme that makes me want to stick with a project long enough to put the words on the page. I don't know if this is permanent, or if I just need a little more time, or exactly what the issue is.
I guess for now I'm just gonna wait and see. My recording project is kicking my ass anyway, so it wouldn't kill me to stop sweating the writing stuff for a while.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the main one might be, weirdly, that I wrote the thing I wanted to write. Nearly all my stuff going back a decade has been centered around the theme of the day the bill comes due--stories about people making bad short-term decisions, hoping they can stave off the reckoning.
Then my writing partner and I wrote DHNN. And, uh, we *nailed* it. I came up with a character that is the living embodiment of short-term thinking, and we wrapped her in a kick-ass story with a great voice and one of the weirder world-building exercises either of us has engaged in. Usually I finish writing something, sit back, look at it, and say, "Huh. So that's finished. No idea if it's any good..." Not this time. We fucking nailed it, and it says everything I wanted to say on that particular theme. It would be ridiculous to tackle that theme again, because I can't do it any better than that.
And now I'm adrift. I can't seem to conjure up that particular energy in the writing, and I can't seem to find a theme that makes me want to stick with a project long enough to put the words on the page. I don't know if this is permanent, or if I just need a little more time, or exactly what the issue is.
I guess for now I'm just gonna wait and see. My recording project is kicking my ass anyway, so it wouldn't kill me to stop sweating the writing stuff for a while.
