All Work And No Fiction…

Makes April one cranky writer.

Last week I complained that I only wrote six pages on my novel. This week I can’t even say that I did that. I’m busting my ass to get this sample chapter of my non-fiction project done as soon as possible, and it just hasn’t left any room for my fiction.

This is true physically and mentally. While I have very little spare time, I feel like if I really wanted to I could make the space to work on my novel. After I put my girl to bed, for example, I could write a few pages.

But one of the things I never count on with writing projects is just how draining they can be. After writing for six or seven hours on the non-fiction project, I just don’t have it in me to do any more. Especially since shifting to my novel would mean a complete brain wave modification. Different characters, different structure, even the basic style of my writing is different when I do fiction.

So I’m trying to be gentle with myself. The chapter is coming along well, and should be done in a day or two. Then I can set all this non-fiction aside and focus on the novel for the foreseeable future.

The really juicy dilemma will be if I do get a book deal for the non-fiction project. What then? Do I set aside the novel indefinitely? Do I make Mondays Talulah Jones days, and devote the rest of the week to non-fiction? Do I toughen up and start writing pages after dark?

I’m not going to worry about it just yet.