Blocks

It is no secret for those following this blog that I've been having some trouble writing. These difficulties have affected not only the sequel to Dragon's Blood but my writing in general. Black Box was finished on time fueled by sheer stubbornness and a bit of desperation.

Last week, I did a writing "fast". Might sound contradictory, to deliberately not write when the problem is that you can't write, mas as they say, sometimes you are so obsessed by the problem you can't see the answer.

The pause was good for me. First because it made me ache to write (ah, humans, tell us we can't do something and away we go...), but mostly because it allowed me to gain some perspective on what was keeping me from writing: myself.

Writing is what I do, not what I am. I have no idea at what stage of the path I forgot that, but I've been attributing too much importance to the completion of my writing projects and, especially, to the world's reaction to those projects. If tomorrow I was no longer being published, I'd still write, and that says it all about what my real priority should be here.

My obsession with results was keeping me from enjoying the process. And the process is fantastic. The process is what kept me writing even when I couldn't get a publisher. And, by not enjoying the process, even the good days began to feel like a burden.

So, this month, I'll be relearning to focus on the path instead of the destination. For that, I've decided to go back to my starting point: short stories.

I've signed up for the Story-a-Day challenge at FMWriters. The goal is to write a story per day for a month. Sounds crazy, but it's what I need right now. To write, to let it flow, with no time to worry about correction, editions, publications and other concerns. Just write and enjoy the ride.

I would love to get the 31 stopries done, but even if I only manage the minimum goal of 10, it will still be great.