Well, I have been spoiled this summer. I’ve had my Fridays free and could sit back and kick up my feet, admiring the words of others for 10 weeks as guest bloggers took over my post here for #FridayThoughts but surely I’ve accumulated some great wisdom or lesson to share from my summer. Hmm. *searches head and flips through planner pages hoping to find a clue*
Okay, so maybe I’m not imparting any unique nugget of knowledge this week but what I can share is some good news and along with it, validation. Validation that I took the right course of action when maybe it didn’t seem on the surface the smart thing to do.
This week, I finished the writing and editing of my next book OUR SEASONS. Join me please in a collective SIGH OF RELIEF. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. So now the publishing process officially begins on Monday.
Publishing a book is not a unique experience. I have hundreds and hundreds of authors I follow on Twitter and Facebook who will happily place their book or Kindle in front of my face to confirm. But what I’m happy to report is that I was able to prove my point about one very important aspect of writing: if you’re not in love with what you’re working on in that moment, whatever the reason, it pays to move on to something else you WILL love.
You see, I had found myself working on a book because I had to, which is a never a good reason to write a book. And I was experiencing suddenly all of these feelings about life — about myself and my history and my emotions, a ton of baggage rising to the surface — and instead of channeling that into an expression of art, I was trying to write a sequel to a romance that I was not in that moment invested in writing.
So I stopped writing it.
Not a wise move from a business sense. After all, if your book garners some fans, it’s probably best to get back to them as soon as you can with the rest of the story, right? I know this is true. But… I also know as a book lover myself, if you write it while you’re not truly feeling it, your readers will know.
I suppose I went against good business sense, and instead of working on the sequel next, I wrote something else. Something that I was feeling in my heart in that moment. Something that I felt was whispering to me…write me. And you know what happened? I was rejuvenated by the creative process of storytelling again and by building a very different kind of work, a literary collection of short stories, poetry and photos, something that I did not focus my creative energy on primarily. And as a result of that spark, I now feel more excited than ever to write THE MUSE UNGUARDED, the conclusion of THE MUSE SERIES and sequel to my last book THE MUSE UNLOCKED.
I guess there is an underlying message here, after all. You know how all of the doctors and health gurus tell us to listen to our bodies? Well, I am telling you, writers, painters, sculptors, musicians, performers, artists and creative folks of every kind — listen to your hearts, creatively speaking. There are whispers that will arise but sometimes we let the din around us block their soft commands. They may be quiet but they are firm. Let them guide you and don’t let inspiration be strong-armed by calendars and others’ expectations. After all, if something isn’t captivating you, how can you expect the person on the other side experiencing it to be captivated?
Writing on my third book, THE MUSE UNGUARDED, begins in a little over two weeks, and I could not be more excited to dig in and revisit the world of my first book’s “cast” and some new voices that will join in the mix! There are new lessons for my characters to learn, and an array of exciting people, places and activities for them to experience. And best of all, as a writer, I’m finally ready to experience them, too. Yes!!! *jumps up into a victory dance* ~ Chris
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