So I think I've reached a decision about my writing.

It occured to me a few days ago that one reason I'm feeling so much resistance towards finishing this damn novel is because I get out of practice.

I've tried writing every day. Just can't keep up the momentum.

I've tried every other day. That seems to work...for awhile. And then something comes up that throws it off and I inevitably end up going three, four, five days without writing and then suddenly an entire month has gone by that I've avoided the work.

I've tried Nano this year. Although that was slightly more successful than JoNowrimo (5k and still counting!), it's still nowhere near my old output. I mean, pre-baby output.

I don't have daycare options. Preschool isnt' in the cards for at least year. I've no break, except on weekends. I'm working more hours now that I did when I worked full time.

We're slowly, ever so slowly working towards the "quiet time after lunch" thing, where I may be able to get in a few minutes of not trying to keep a certain Wiggler's hands occupied, but (and here's the catch), I'm out of practice. Every day.

I'm not thinking of the story at all hours of the day like I used to. I can't. This isn't a mindless paper pushing job where I can easily let my mind wander to jot down storylines and plot twists. I take the time to do that and something either gets broken, bruised, or stained.

Therefore, when I sit down at the end of the day and try to get "all caught up" with the story (especially after a day or two of not thinking about it), it takes awhile to get in the groove. By the time I'm in the groove and on the track to actually be productive, it's time to go to bed. If I go beyond that for more than a couple days (i.e. going to bed at 2:30am), then that's the point when I reach burnout.

So we'll try something new here. Novel-length stories just aren't cutting it now. There's too much going on and too much to keep track of.

I'll push myself to finish the damn Lake story, then I'm leaving it alone for a few years and sticking to short stories and PBs. I know I gave up both a few years ago, when I realized my heart wasn't in those two categories, but times change. If that's all I can manage these days, then I'll give it a shot.

Regaining some sort of ground on the blogging front is an entirely different story though. Not sure what to do about that.



Addendum to that last part: I am sort of developing a plan for that, but since my enthusiasm for all things online has been pretty low lately, it may be awhile in coming. Oh yeah, I have a lot of plans, but they don't necessarily get anything done.