Hiccups, They Happen...

First off, let me thank everyone for the increased traffic of my blog posts.  I hope I'm helping some of you wade through your own writing fogs. Once again, if you haven't already, add me on NaNoWriMo (AbsentGoddess) and try to remember to keep me posted on the publishing endeavors of your results.  I'm more than happy to help my fellow authors.

I ran into a rather tricky part of my story, which has me slowing down my breakneck pace today. However, my method of making a comeback is already planned-- jotting some things down the old-fashioned way.  I love typing, but there is something about hand-writing through the tricky spots that always seems to work.  Two of them are progression details that need to be injected strategically over the course of the story. The tricky part is involving pacing and a character conflict that will involve some maneuvering...

I made it a point to let myself slide on writing for tonight, but inspiration may strike again.  Hiccups are no big deal as long as you quell the urge to panic.  I think most of us hit a point where, even while crafting our masterpieces, we have those 'I'm about to fuck things up' moments. This is where we remind ourselves once more that we are drafting so forgive the momentary insanity and fill some blank space. No one likes to overhaul or completely chop out parts later, but it might be a necessary evil. Keep writing for yourself for now; you got this...

I was going to save second drafting musings for a later date, but it's niggling on my brain right now. This time around, I'm going to go for a second drafting process with some extra steps-- printing it out and writing directly on the draft.  Since I like the connection that hand-writing brings to the process, I want to go with that satisfying red-pen-markup method before sitting in front of my keyboard again. I realize that thinking that far ahead might cause anxiety for some people, but in the spirit of stepping away to clear my head on hiccups, sometimes a little forethought is comforting.

Before my little errant epiphanies disappear, I'll leave the blog post on this note: hiccups are part of the process. You'll have plenty of time to pick yourself apart in later stages. If you are the type to get overwhelmed, go back to my old advice about compartmentalizing. Allow certain doubts their place, but discard them from any process that doesn't benefit you.