Thursday, January 15, 2015

Lost: Motivation. If found, please return!

photosteve101/Creative Commons
Last year went out with a bang for me, but 2015 has started with a fizzle. I'll admit that scheduling three new releases in December was probably a bad idea--I was majorly burnt out by the end, and my WIPs have been stagnating because of some pretty ferocious writer's block.

We've also been struggling to get my son's med dosages right, and he's floundering a bit. Screaming tantrums and wild mood swings don't make it easy to write--and I'm including mine in there along with his. It's been a tough road lately, but we're coming through the other side soon, I hope.

He was absolutely amazed to see that my latest novel, Playing House, was dedicated to him. He knew it was about a character who had autism, like him, but he didn't realize that he was a big part of the reason I wrote it. So that was a bright point last month, getting to see the look on his face when he read the dedication. (And then promptly begged to read the book, which I had to yet again deny. He's an avid reader and wants to read all my books, but I've told him he has to be at least eighteen. And I've also promised that when he is eighteen he's going to want absolutely NOTHING to do with Mama's books...*g*)

I spent November getting a good solid start on my first YA book, so that's high on my WIP list for 2015. I'll be looking for a few good betas for that, since it's not a genre I'm hugely familiar with, so if you're good at YA pacing and dialogue drop me a line. Maybe if I had someone asking me for updates I'd be more likely to finish it up sooner rather than later!

Between the three book releases, holiday madness, and my son's struggles, I didn't have a lot of time or motivation to write in December. I started a lesbian short story (my first in that genre, and something I'd really like to finish even if I can't find it a publishing home), dabbled a bit on a paranormal manuscript that I've been pecking at for years, and shuffled things around in a few other WIPs I've been procrastinating on. I logged a total of about 10K words across those projects. All in all, not a great month.

The kids are finally back in school, even though the weather has caused closings and delays. Hopefully that will be behind us soon and I can get back into a regular writing groove--I miss it, and I'm worried at this rate that I won't have anything out in 2015!

I need to figure out how to unlock my motivation for 2015. My current plan is to fake it til I can make it...basically getting myself in front of my laptop and writing anything I can, even when I don't want to. What do you do when your motivation is nowhere to be found and your WIPs are piling up?

(No really, what do you do? Because I'm open to suggestions... *g*)
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