writing wednesdays: Playing the switcheroo game

If I had to put a one-word label on my writing from 2020 it would be Jumbled. I started out the year on a pretty solid path but it didn't take long for me to lose my footing. I spent a couple of frustrating months flip-flopping between self-doubt and determination. One week I was writing like a woman possessed, the next I was deleting more than I was putting down. And if that wasn't enough, I couldn't settle on what project to work on (but that's another post). 

We've all heard the advice to go for a walk in nature or manhandle exercise equipment or clean toilets or use all the hot water in the shower or whatever gives you the change of scenery and mental break when you're struggling with your manuscript. 

I've used exercise to jump-start ideas and I crochet when I'm stumped on a plot point. But the busy brain that took over this year was more than either of those could cure. What worked? Switching genres. I wrote a draft of a children's book and a short story. Here's why that helped ... 

When I write women's fiction, I have to be on a computer. I've tried writing longhand, nothing happens. The first draft is a messy collaboration between my brain and fingers. I don't stop to edit or reread. Editing, however, is done on paper but again, different post. 

I've learned over the years, though, that children's books flow from brain to pen. I have to write those out longhand and then edit on the computer. 

And the short story, well, that turned out to be a typed first draft and typed edit. Go figure! 

The switch in formats and genres, allowed my creative braincells to let loose while still working on the fundamentals that are consistent across all writing -- character development, story structure, conflict, plot, setting, etc.

Now for the fun part of seeing what -- if anything -- can become of those new projects. :-) 

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