July is always a major writing month for me. I love using the motivation of Camp NaNoWriMo to kick my writing up a gear and really crank the words out. There’s nothing like being part of a community that’s dedicated to their books for an entire month to get the motivation going. Though, in my case, this July was a lot more about editing than it was writing anything new. I’ve been working on the follow up to my YA fantasy ‘The Crystal Tree’ for the whole year so far hardly even looking at another project, though let me tell you, I’ve been sorely tempted more than a few times. But I’ve reached that point where I’ve finally finished draft 5, which I started during Camp NaNo in July, and which, fingers crossed, will be one of the last major drafts this book will need.
‘The Shattering Song’ has now been set aside to rest for a little while I try to gain a little distance from the words. It’s also been sent off to my family, who are my last line of readers before I embark on the final rounds of polishing and proofreading. I’m slightly terrified every time I give them something, because I am desperate for them to like these stories I’ve been working on for so long. But now, I’m sitting in that awkward stage between drafts where I don’t quite know what to do with myself. Maybe you’ve been in this place too. it’s like, I can’t quite settle on whether to keep working on something different for a bit while ‘The Shattering Song’ is resting, or whether to actually give myself some time off writing all together.
I do like the sound of taking an actual rest and not having to work on anything at all, but instead giving myself time to read and relax and do nothing much at all. But at the same time, it feels wrong to go through a day without working on anything at all, like I’m wasting valuable time that I should be putting into my books. What if I lose all my momentum and can’t drag myself back to the keyboard when the time comes to pick up where I left off? But at the same time, I can’t get all caught up in editing something else in the meantime, because either I’ll have to put off returning to my main project for far too long, and let me tell you, I don’t need any help procrastinating that, thank you very much, or I’ll have to leave my side project partway through, and that is exceedingly frustrating.
At the moment, I’m filling this void with reading, and gently gathering ideas for the novel I’m planning on writing for NaNoWriMo in November. Idea gathering is great because I can throw anything I like at the wall, be as wild as I like, and then come back later to see what’s going to work and what’s not. I don’t have to get any more caught up in this than I want to be, because it’s not like I’m actually writing or editing a draft. I’m just stringing some ideas together and playing around with a new idea that’s all new and shiny and not at all serious work yet. A change is as good as a break, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself, and hopefully playing around with some new ideas will help me come back to ‘The Shattering Song’ refreshed and ready to make it the best book it can be.
But that makes me curious. How do you handle the time in between drafts? Do you give yourself the weeks between off from writing completely? Do you work on something else in the meantime? Do you ever feel a bit lost when you’ve finished one draft but can’t start the next immediately? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
