What a Mess!

I was getting ready to write a blog post on finding your character's voice and I happened to notice a post that I forgot to publish. Oops. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to read if you find yourself unorganized in the middle of writer's block.

I have a private Google website I use for all my novel planning.  R.J. and I also have one for Bloodleggers.  In the past, these websites have been more than helpful in recording ideas, tracking characters, plotting, outlining, etc.  Well, I stopped maintaining them far too long ago, and what an outdated mess they've become!  Thanks to The Artist's Way tough, I've been in cleaning mode for a couple of weeks now. 

I've been working my way very slowly through the sections, taking the time to read each chapter twice and complete all the exercises, so at times I find my progress is a little ahead of where I'm reading in the book.  Like when I read this after hitting my office like a Ms. Clean tornado a couple Wednesdays ago.
One of the clearest signals that something healthy is afoot is the impulse to weed out, sort through, and discard old clothes, papers, and belongings...  By tossing out the old and unworkable, we make way for the new and suitable...  When the search-and-discard impulse seizes you, two cross currents are at work:  the old you is leaving and grieving, while the new you celebrates and grows strong.
So this is where I am at the moment, working through my writer's funk.  Only now the cleaning has moved to the computer.  One thing that came out of cleaning up the office was a pile of hand written story ideas and edits I need to incorporate into the novels.  Looking at the pile, it occurred to me I may have brought on some of the writers block by being so unorganized and scattered.  Time to clean it all up and get on with the writing.

You'll be happy to know I officially exited the clean up mode a couple weeks ago. The office is immaculate and the website back in use, including a nearly complete outline for book 3 of The Courier.

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