Saturday, January 23, 2016

Writing Obstacles by Victoria Chatham

What are one (or two) writing projects you want to accomplish this year? What will be any obstacles you might encounter? I laughed when I saw this Round Robin topic for January, because this year I have committed to writing two books, one for release in May and the second in October. Will there be obstacles? You betcha!

I have to say right up front that I’m something of a hedonist, so my first and biggest obstacle is always myself. Yep, given a choice between writing or sharing a glass of wine over lunch with a friend, the lunch is likely to win out and writing will be put on the back burner – again.

I often have to put in catch-up time with my writing and then will go through periods of ‘how-could-I-write-this-drivel’ and then panic as I equate word count with my time frame. Not the smartest course. The smart course would be to get the writing done first but I never professed to be smart.

Another obstacle for me is that whatever my story sounds like in my head, by the time it reaches the page it’s never the same. Being a Virgo and therefore something of a perfectionist, I might then write and re-write the same scene a dozen times before I’m happy enough with it to move on. I’ve tried just letting it go, I really have but, like sand in a shoe, it keeps irritating me until I go back and fix whatever it is I think needs fixing.

Usually the parts that have given me sleepless nights are the parts that my critique partners have no trouble with, and parts I think are fine my beta readers will question. I try to get out of my own way in order for the writing to flow, which I wish it did as easily as the ideas I get. Not content with working on my two books for this year, I have also committed to a Christmas themed novella.

That should be easy right? I mean, I have 10 months to write it in between working on the other two. But winter doesn’t last forever and then there will months when sunshine will tempt me out of doors, whether it be for gardening, hiking or just sitting on the deck. There might be a camping trip or two, and always the movies and my writing group. Ah well. That’s just me. I always get there in the end.

Visit these fine authors to see what obstacles they come up with.