More fabulousness from Meg Rosoff

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

'Whenever I do any teaching, I inevitably get twenty-five middle aged aspiring writers sitting around a table looking mournful. “I got halfway through my book,” they all say, “and then I got stuck.”

This is when I think a cattle prod would come in handy for creative writing classes. “Of course you get stuck you silly people,” I practically scream. “Getting stuck is what happens. Everyone gets stuck!”'

here

Tunip that just made me laugh out loud, followed by a huge sigh of relief. The following quote sums up my thoughts exactly-

“You work harder,” I tell them. “You snap at your family, you feel depressed, you waste time on Facebook and Twitter, you clean the house (but only when you’re really desperate), you devour whole cakes, you pace, you despair. You read other peoples’ books that are better than any you’ll ever write and you cry. Eventually you get so desperate that you just write some nonsense, and if you’re lucky, something in that nonsense clicks with something in your brain, and you start to see a way through. If you’re not lucky, it doesn’t click, and you have to be depressed for another day. Or a week or a month.”

I am about 3 weeks into being depressed, wondering who am I actually trying to kid- I am not a writer. I managed to complete one 12,000 word kids book, which has so far been rejected and although I knew this would happen it doesn't make it any less difficult to take. I am dragging my heels in writing the second book (Ii have planned a three book series) but I need to give myself a swift kick up the arse and just get on with it.

How are your re-writes going? Any nearer to the draft that you are happy (ish) with?

She's great, isn't she?

Don't write the second book in the series yet, do that once you have a deal for the first. Write something different for now. Otherwise what if you can't publish the first, or you do and they make you change it? If you do something different you needn't be weighed down by anxiety about the fate of book 1.

Thanks for asking about mine. I'm flagging, tbh. I've been super-energetic about this project for a year now but I'm at the start of the 4th draft feeling like I can get to the end of this one but I'm not going to have the energy for another big rewrite if it needs one after this.

Feeling the same here, Tunip,and the computer problems are just exacerbating it - I'm managing almost nothing at the moment :(

Thanks for sharing the quote

Sorry to hear you're having computer problems, Grendel.
Your book can't have far to go, surely?