The morally minded would say never, ever be unfaithful! Only those weak of spirit would be untrue to that which has been revered but… in the world of writing, things are a little different. Oh, you have your beloved projects, don’t you. Those novels, poems, stories that are written with your blood, born from your memories, crafted via your mind. How could you ever, you ask—wide eyed and wondering, be unfaithful to so marvelous a project? Once the little paper ink babe was born it became your duty to love and cherish till death—or for those very determined, beyond death do you part…
Now I’d never tell you that your hard wrought writing project isn’t deserving of every ounce of your concern and care, however I am saying that after the project is as complete as you can get it—written and edited, you set that baby aside and immediately direct your roving mind’s eye to your next writing project. For one, it can be hard for a writer when a project ends. You enter into a kind of no writer’s land—the signposts of plot, character development, symbolism are still there, but they don’t mean much when you’re not writing. No matter how difficult, start writing something else right away—change genres if you have to. A huge novel can be many things including exhausting to write, so get the juices flowing with a small project, a short story perhaps.
All this unfaithfulness actually will have a wonderful benefit for the beloved completed project that waits quietly for you to turn your love drenched eyes to it again—the saying’s true, distance does make the heart grow fonder and it also makes your mind a whole lot sharper—things that you might have missed in the original editing process because you’ve been reading the same sentences over and over and can no longer notice the mistakes will jump out at you when a week, a month, a year has passed. Plus, jumping into something right away, even if it’s just note taking for another large project will help with the dreaded ‘writer’s block’. So, that’s my advice, be unfaithful to completed writing projects—diversity in writing is a word lover’s best friend.
Have you done this? Does it help you? Or, if you don’t, why haven’t you?
All this unfaithfulness actually will have a wonderful benefit for the beloved completed project that waits quietly for you to turn your love drenched eyes to it again—the saying’s true, distance does make the heart grow fonder and it also makes your mind a whole lot sharper—things that you might have missed in the original editing process because you’ve been reading the same sentences over and over and can no longer notice the mistakes will jump out at you when a week, a month, a year has passed. Plus, jumping into something right away, even if it’s just note taking for another large project will help with the dreaded ‘writer’s block’. So, that’s my advice, be unfaithful to completed writing projects—diversity in writing is a word lover’s best friend.
Have you done this? Does it help you? Or, if you don’t, why haven’t you?
