Without going into too much detail, my day job hasn’t calmed down. I had hoped that after the last turbulent week, things would return to a more steady routine. They haven’t. This has been affecting my writing.
Writing to me has always been work. Enjoyable work, but I don’t go to it to unwind or relax. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. I love spending time with my characters, creating their worlds, getting to know them and putting them through hell. But the actual act of committing my words to the page does not offer a similar kind of relaxation that reading, video gaming, or seeing my friends does. In a lot of ways, it feels like an unpaid job. Once again, a job that I enjoy, but a job nonetheless.
And with things so crazy at my actual, pay-me job, my writing has also suffered. I mentioned on Twitter that I took a break from blogging for a week or so, just because I couldn’t get any ideas at all at what to talk to about. It all seemed, not pointless, but not something I wanted to do.
I think it’s kind of amazing then, how switching gears to a different project, one that I thought of literally overnight, has reenergized me.
Rather than working on my novel, I decided to take a brief break and work on a Role-Play instead. I’ve said before that Role-Playing was my original gateway into the world of writing, and there’s something more enjoyable about writing alongside other writers in the same world. It has a unique energy to it, where I serve as leader but the details are filled out by others. It combines the fun of writing with the joy of experiencing a new story. I may create the plot flow, but the character interactions come from others.
In a strange way, I think it’s just what I needed.
I’ve never liked saying I was a slave to my muse, because I don’t honestly think I am. But sometimes, you just need something fresh to get the juices flowing. Fortunately, I think I found it.
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What do you do when a project isn’t working?
Derek Pietras 