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The key to breaking the block, I think, has been to write. I knew this all along, of course, but I didn’t have anything to write. But in editing The Brakan Correspondent (which henceforward will be referred to by its new name, The Correspondent’s Daughter), I’ve realized that I need to write more stuff. Not padding, no — there’s stuff missing. I’m serious. The pacing is off in many places because I’ve rushed things terribly. There are opportunities missed, settings and characters not fully fleshed. I need more writing, not less — a black pen, not a red pen.

Realizing this has made all the difference. All the many times I’ve opened up my TBC files, only to get discouraged because I couldn’t fix things by changing words, cutting words, rewriting or cutting sentences. Each time, I had hoped to edit a chapter a day and zip through the whole job, and each time I would wither and die by the third chapter. I couldn’t fix it. It was beyond me. I couldn’t make it the book I wanted it to be, not without rewriting it altogether.

The truth is somewhere in between the total rewrite and the speedy edit. And the truth, it seems (based on the fact that I’ve managed to write for four days out of the last five), is far easier to accomplish than either extreme. It will be slow-going, and I really shouldn’t celebrate until I’ve made it past that deadly Chapter 3 barrier. But for now it feels good, really good, to be creating new scenes, and that good feeling has given me the energy to fix the busted scenes.

But I’m done for the day. Time to play video games. Or give the ferrets a bath.

Walnut, April 16, 2011. Category: Writer's Life.