I can't address the necklace, but it seems to me that things will still be okay if you don't finish the book. Your contributions to the world aren't measured by and don't rely upon this single project.
(Have you tried writing something short and unrelated, or is that merely distracting? Sometimes trying too hard to press something into existence can kill a writing project temporarily, whichever sort of writing it is.)
Yah, I sometimes have to write YA stuff in the middle of big long serious adult projects. Not that I'm not serious about YAs, because I am, but they feel smaller than me in my head, and adult stuff feels a lot bigger than me. I don't know if you have that problem, but your book feels a lot bigger than me, and it doesn't even live in my head. For some people, this would be a distraction or additional pressure (because there were days when I was writing two books that wouldn't book, oh joy); you'd know better than I.
Just checking - you had a post the other day where you just needed to vent and didn't want reassurances. :)
My view is - even if you never wrote another book again, you'd find something else to do. You seem both very resourceful and creative. I know you identify yourself as a writer, but it doesn't mean it's the *only* thing you can do. And even if you don't finish this book, it doesn't mean you won't get struck by another idea down the road, and write that story instead. Or write this story at another time, when it speaks to you better.
I don't know how you felt about the first two, while you were writing them. How does this compare, in terms of your attitude about it? Do you feel maybe you're trying too hard, that there's too much sense of "I have to do this"? Or did you feel that way about the others, too? It just seems to me that the sense of pressure isn't helping. Did you struggle the same to hear Elias' voice in the beginning? Or the voices in EHR? I ask just because although I know you've put in a lot of work on this project already, if it's not clicking in your head, does that mean perhaps another project would be better? Or is this common in book-writing and just needs to be worked through?
(Side note: Start sending your daughters to bed 15 minutes earlier for every time they interrupt you while you're writing. I suspect they'll stop that right off.)
I have the same thought about one of my stories, which has been stuck in the same spot for THREE months. I woke up about a week ago in a panic because I didn't know who the main character was, although I know all sorts of things that happen to her.
Maybe if somebody hung the necklace from a stick and dangled it in front of your monitor?
Even if you never finish it, nobody can take away the words you have already written and you will always BE a writer. If you don't finish it, you could always write something else. Write something that you *want* to write. I agree with greythistle too.
Go back and read all the comments and suggestions people have made about your book and your process. Even if some of them seem unsuitable, try one. The comments people have made will, I think, remind you of your clever ideas, and the suggestions might offer a way out of the box you keep finding yourself in.
If this doesn't help, ask for more comments and suggestions. ;-)
You will have your family. You will have your friends. You will find something else to do to express your creativity. You will continue to contribute to the world in all the other ways that you do. You'll even still be a writer, so long as you keep writing.
You're going to write it, so that isn't a question.
It's well known in Minnesota that as long as a person has the right necklace for a project, that person will be able to finish the project. (You see those Norwegian bachelor farmers out near Lake Wobegon finding their right necklaces for ploughing, and for reaping...)
Thanks for your faith it me, Jo. It means an awful lot. I do want you to know that I am very serious about starting to work at it again. I have cleared a lot extraneous junk out of my life so that I can get back to giving it as much of my attention as I can spare.
However, getting back to writing after such a long hiatus is hard--well, you know that from personal experience, I believe. And I am quite unimpressed with what I have so far, which makes me tiresomely wibbley--sorry. Just bear with me. I am determined to keep going.
I don't know you except from LJ posts and old HP interactions. But it seems to me that if a story is in your soul, it'll come out eventually. It may not be in the form or at the time you expected or wanted, but there's no way it won't be told.
I've had poem fragments and thoughts for short pieces sit for years, I've even forgotten they exist, until I remember or find them and it's only *then* that the spark really hits the tinder. It's not that you're not writing; you are. Just not this book. So my question back to you: Is your problem that you're not writing, or that you're not writing the *way* or at the *time* you think you should?
Oh, wow. The story of the necklace is just amazing.
I would say, to your parenthetical question, no. Most definitely not. Even if this book doesn't pan out, the writing bug is in you, and you will write something else. Probably many somethings.
But the book will pan out. The stumbling blocks... they're just the things that will make it a better book.
This just came to me - the necklace is either your sword pulled out of the stone or the albatross around your neck - your choice.
But it's yours. There's no time limit. Except that there are people who want to read the book, whenever it gets finished.
Have you looked in Finnish mythology for stories about magic fish? I heard it debated whether the Finns are Scandahovian, but they sure have interesting mythology. And I once knew a Finnish man who could "call fish" - he'd start chanting softly when he was fishing, and he just kept catching fish.
I wonder...is there a piece missing that keeps the structure from being strong enough for you to write it? Do you know what that missing piece is. I know an architect-become-fantasy writer. You may know him, too. Is that a missing piece? (It is still your story, and the fact that it has come back to you suggests that it wants to be written. The fact that you are feeling frustrated...I don't know whether that's other things in your life, or a missing piece to the workings of the book, or missing to the support you need to write it.)
*laughs* You make it sound like a threat! Well, you're coming anyway, sometime in the next month, yes? I'd love to see you when you do. I am awfully wibbley and I'm sorry; I know it's tiresome, but I am honestly started up at working on it again, and that's good. I suppose. *Sigh*
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(Have you tried writing something short and unrelated, or is that merely distracting? Sometimes trying too hard to press something into existence can kill a writing project temporarily, whichever sort of writing it is.)
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My view is - even if you never wrote another book again, you'd find something else to do. You seem both very resourceful and creative. I know you identify yourself as a writer, but it doesn't mean it's the *only* thing you can do. And even if you don't finish this book, it doesn't mean you won't get struck by another idea down the road, and write that story instead. Or write this story at another time, when it speaks to you better.
I don't know how you felt about the first two, while you were writing them. How does this compare, in terms of your attitude about it? Do you feel maybe you're trying too hard, that there's too much sense of "I have to do this"? Or did you feel that way about the others, too? It just seems to me that the sense of pressure isn't helping. Did you struggle the same to hear Elias' voice in the beginning? Or the voices in EHR? I ask just because although I know you've put in a lot of work on this project already, if it's not clicking in your head, does that mean perhaps another project would be better? Or is this common in book-writing and just needs to be worked through?
(Side note: Start sending your daughters to bed 15 minutes earlier for every time they interrupt you while you're writing. I suspect they'll stop that right off.)
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Now take that question, put it down on paper, burn it, and go back to glaring at the book.
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Maybe if somebody hung the necklace from a stick and dangled it in front of your monitor?
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we have faith in you, ♥.
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I agree with
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If you can't believe in yourself, put on the necklace and borrow it from a whole bunch of other people for a while.
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If this doesn't help, ask for more comments and suggestions. ;-)
K.
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It's well known in Minnesota that as long as a person has the right necklace for a project, that person will be able to finish the project. (You see those Norwegian bachelor farmers out near Lake Wobegon finding their right necklaces for ploughing, and for reaping...)
You can do it.
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However, getting back to writing after such a long hiatus is hard--well, you know that from personal experience, I believe. And I am quite unimpressed with what I have so far, which makes me tiresomely wibbley--sorry. Just bear with me. I am determined to keep going.
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I've had poem fragments and thoughts for short pieces sit for years, I've even forgotten they exist, until I remember or find them and it's only *then* that the spark really hits the tinder. It's not that you're not writing; you are. Just not this book. So my question back to you: Is your problem that you're not writing, or that you're not writing the *way* or at the *time* you think you should?
~Amanda
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I would say, to your parenthetical question, no. Most definitely not. Even if this book doesn't pan out, the writing bug is in you, and you will write something else. Probably many somethings.
But the book will pan out. The stumbling blocks... they're just the things that will make it a better book.
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But it's yours. There's no time limit. Except that there are people who want to read the book, whenever it gets finished.
Have you looked in Finnish mythology for stories about magic fish? I heard it debated whether the Finns are Scandahovian, but they sure have interesting mythology. And I once knew a Finnish man who could "call fish" - he'd start chanting softly when he was fishing, and he just kept catching fish.
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I wonder...is there a piece missing that keeps the structure from being strong enough for you to write it? Do you know what that missing piece is. I know an architect-become-fantasy writer. You may know him, too. Is that a missing piece? (It is still your story, and the fact that it has come back to you suggests that it wants to be written. The fact that you are feeling frustrated...I don't know whether that's other things in your life, or a missing piece to the workings of the book, or missing to the support you need to write it.)
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*laughs* You make it sound like a threat! Well, you're coming anyway, sometime in the next month, yes? I'd love to see you when you do. I am awfully wibbley and I'm sorry; I know it's tiresome, but I am honestly started up at working on it again, and that's good. I suppose. *Sigh*
But I still think it's utter crap.
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Muchas smooches.