I am prone to losing things. Keys, money, important documents, myself–anything that can be lost, I could find a way to lose.
As a result of my “need for a job,” I sought to liquidate some assets to soften the financial blow of “needing a job.” Things that held value: furniture, computers, and other electronics. I didn’t possess multiple computers obviously, so I would need to do something with my book.
By this point, I started typing my book on my computer, and so losing my computer would be … traumatic. This trauma was mitigated by the hope that someday I will own a computer again, and would continue the story. It didn’t hurt that my writers’ block had yet to abate, so the sale of the computer was allowed to continue.
As a precaution, I made several backups: a double density and high density floppy disk, a Zip disk, and a rewritable CD, each with the book in multiple formats. My book was safe and future-proofed. (This is amusing now, considering NONE of these are used today by me. Though if I had to, I could look at a CD). This pause did help, but not like I thought.
‘Having a job’ proved rewarding, enough so that I sought a place of my own. After a move, I purchased another computer, and was ready to start again. However, there was a problem: I lost my book. All of them. They were stored separately, to avoid them being damaged together (when you can’t find any of them, does it really matter?), so after a thorough search, I gave up. It would be a few months before I could stomach a decision. On what to do now.
I finally decided to start again. It shouldn’t take much, I thought. I knew the story, and it’ll be better. Yeah, this is an opportunity: a chance to fix everything I messed up in the previous draft.
So, I wrote three chapters… and gave up. Not that I didn’t try to get further. Rather, the beginning was to my liking at the time. The parts I wanted to adjust though were much further in, so it presented a challenge to rewrite a section I already liked. I also felt there were details I was missing, including why I remember a particular action being taken, with nothing in the story at that point explaining the actions. After starting and stopping a few times, I was forced to shut my rewrite down out of frustration.
Moving is a chore
When I moved again a short time later, I wasn’t looking forward to it. To make it a little easier to deal with, I decided to take the opportunity to clear the clutter and see what was actually needed. I had a lot of junk. A. LOT.
But, it would prove to be a rewarding effort. In one of the last boxes I had to dump (it was a box I realized I hadn’t seen since I moved to this place–not sure how…), I found a pile of drawings I was looking for, and underneath…, wait. Seriously?
There they were. Together. Two floppy disks, a Zip disk, and a rewritable CD! (Who did this? Why are they together? They were supposed to be… Never mind). I immediately copied the contents of each to my computer, as this was exactly what I thought it to be.
Finally, I had my book! I could finally finish it!
Wait, what was the story again? What was giving me writers’ block?
By this point, so much time had passed, I had forgotten the story I was writing (we’re in a different century). So, I read it again, to refresh. I found myself reading my book like everyone else will. It was surprising how little of it I remembered writing, or what motivated me to convey a thought with these particular words.
Or, more surprising, how little detail there was. I would read a section, and I would realize that half the story was missing. I understood where I was going; as I read it, I could recall more and more plot points. But, I was realizing most of them were still in my head as I was writing (see my previous post about writing SLOW…). This meant that I was paraphrasing to compensate: get enough of the story on the page to continue writing what I could. It also meant I needed to fill in some blanks I didn’t realize I left.
But, I also noticed something interesting. As I finished reading this draft, I realized I didn’t remember the story the way I wrote it. In fact, I looked at the three chapters I had started separately, and realized I had fixed my writing obstruction with those three chapters. I suddenly knew where the story needed to go.
I finally could finish!
…
…
But wait, what do I do after that?
(12-27-2017) – Thanks for visiting! If you enjoyed this post, please like and share! You can follow on Facebook, read excerpts from The Silent Invader @RB_Thurman (and follow!), in addition to the chapters I add here. If you prefer, you can also read my posts on Goodreads (I do a few book giveaways there, so you may want to check it out for that). Also, sign up on my contact page, and receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.
In written form 