Solvitur Ambulando

Latin for “it is solved by walking.” My new motto.

I finished my manuscript last week and sent it off to my editor. It’ll be a month or two until I get her notes and I’ve been thinking about what I want to work on while I wait. For a few days it wasn’t an issue. I had procrastinated plenty of freelance work in the name of finishing my draft and that kept me busy for a few days, but as soon as I got caught up the question loomed: what next?

I had a few contenders: a short story idea I’ve been toying with, another idea that might or might not be a novel, an historical romance series I’ve been outlining for a while. Oh yeah, and a half finished novel that’s been sitting in my drawer waiting for me to come back to it.

On Sunday morning I took the dogs for a nice long walk and left my phone at home, testing my new motto, and you know what? It worked. Solvitur ambulando. I considered each of the ideas in turn and eventually landed at the half-finished novel. Why was I even resisting that? I mean, I’ve done the research, I know the characters, at this point it’s just execution. And I guess that is the answer to my question.

With a new idea I could get lost for a while in research or outlining, but with this one, it’s right to work. I know what needs to be done. I just have to do it. And I guess I’m feeling kind of tired.

So I’m giving myself a little more time before I jump back into it. More long walks with the dogs. More freelance work. More reading in the middle of the day. And to make sure my break doesn’t get paralyzingly long, I hereby promise myself that I will pull that half finished novel out of its drawer on Friday and start reading it over. Come Monday, I’ll get to work.