And then there are days you just don't feel like writing...

Good evening!

I've written quite a bit about authors who struggle to find the time to write.  It's a balancing act most of us out here have to perform every day just to keep afloat, but when you toss the idea of wanting to write in there, something that is time consuming, private, and generally not all that lucrative, then the balancing act gets tougher.

But then there are days when you just don't feel like writing.

It doesn't happen often, not for most writers, but there are days when the world is simply too much and all we want to do is curl up in front of the TV and hide.

You all know the signs.  You have way too much to do.  You've made a list and the list took too long to write so now you're already behind.  You start thinking about what you can cut off the list.  (I don't need to color my hair/shave my legs)  and you question your sanity for other items on the list  (why did I volunteer to make cookies for heaven's sakes?)

And then you hit the wall.  Somewhere between working out  (because you have to, because you told the planet you were going to go and you're a big lump so you better go) and making those cookies for the coworker who is doing a big favor for you  (let's hope no one knows you're using your "secret recipe" for cookies) you hit a wall.  Sure, it's only 7 PM, but you know that once that last batch of cookies hits the rack, nothing else is happening. You're not painting your toe nails  (which means you don't have to pack sandals for your weekend with the girls, which means you probably don't have to shave your legs because if you're not going to wear sandals you're certainly not going to wear Capri pants.) you're not waxing your eyebrows  (the bushy look is in anyway).

You are, however, going to hunker down with some Chinese take out and watch the "Project Runway" finale because, well, that's all you're really capable of doing in this mind set.

You certainly aren't in the right place to write.

I read someplace once that the great American novel was killed by the invention of Central Air.  The author of the article pointed out the great Southern authors and how simmering in the hot Gulf Coast summers created a sort of creative insanity that gave us many of the great American Novels. I tend to agree with that idea...to a point.  I think we are still a very creative society.  I think, however, that true creativity is being crushed under the weight of the "HAVE TO'S" in life.  I have to work.  I have to feed the children, I have to do laundry.  I have to take the cookies out of the oven.  (Can we tell exactly what Sarah is doing RIGHT NOW besides blogging?)

There are too many HAVE TO's in the world for real creativity to shine on a broad spectrum.  We're fed endless muck and retread TV shows because, and we watch because we're too exhausted to have to follow a show that takes some thought.  (I seriously have every episode of "Once Upon a Time" on my DVR.  I promise myself every week that I will catch up on it.) 

Right now, it should come as no surprise, I'm being crushed by "HAVE TO's."  I'm not in a place where I want to write.  The good news, the silver lining, to being a complete unknown in the world of writing, is that the deadlines you have are the ones you set and you can move them all you want.  I had a deadline for the two books I'm working on...and that deadline passed last week.

Of course, I also seemed to have lost my artist...Nicola?  Nicola Martinez?  Where are you??????   My novel has suddenly gotten boring, and I'm not finding my nit wit coworker quite as funny as I used to.

Never fear, however.  A day will come, very soon, when I get the urge to write again, and then all will be well.  I'll stop snacking late at night, I'll smile a lot more, and I'll ignore the HAVE TO's and listen to the WANT TO's.

But right now, I'm going to finish baking cookies and then I'm going to watch Project Runway.

There's no such thing as over-editing...or is there?

Good morning!

I'm back from conference and now I'm faced with not one, but two stories I must edit to submit. Call it the perfect storm of emails...whatever. The fact is, I have 50 pages of "Lies in Chance" that I must get to the agent yesterday and now, The Wild Rose Press has requested some chapters of my "Lies in Chance" prequel, "Love is Elementary."

Now, this should be ready to go right? Should just be a matter of cutting, pasting, attaching, and emailing.

Nope...not even close.

I don't know about most writers, but I have yet to send anything that's requested without hours of editing. Working under the idea that there's no such thing as over editing, I labor over phrase after phrase of a document that's already been edited several times.

Am I over doing it? Quite possibly.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the show "Project Runway." One of the comments I hear all the time is that the garment looks "overworked." I have gotten comments on "Lies in Chance" that the book is obviously the product of very, very careful editing.

Am I going too far? Do we all go too far?

I had a writing instructor once, Elliott, you know her, who said, "Because the technology is in place to put out letter perfect documents, editors and agents expect letter perfect documents." In the days of turning in hand written manuscripts (I often envy the authors of yesteryear, like Edgar Allen Poe. He had time for drug addiction...he didn't have to deal with Spellcheck. Authors today have no time to engage in anything illicit or fun. We're too busy being perfect.)

So off I go to edit. Maybe I'm over doing it. Maybe I'll be rejected because it's too perfect.

Okay, I can hear you laughing at that.

I'll just keep editing until someone tells me to stop.