COUNTDOWN: 12 Reasons It Took Me 12 Years to Write a Novel

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These are my reasons, they may or may not resonate for you . . .

12. Not certain about what I wanted to say, at least at first

11. Stuck inside the tropes and cliches of urban fantasy, not sure how to write my way out of them

10. Writer’s block (aka panic, anxiety and so on)

9. Not having a writing schedule

8. Not sticking to my writing schedule

7. Going more than three days without writing

6. Certain about opening, certain about ending, uncertain about the mushy middle.

5. Allowing myself to get distracted by Life (secret belief: if I sacrifice my writing practice on the altar of the problem of the moment, the problem will go away and I will *finally* have time and peace of mind to write.) Nope nope nope. Wrongo. The truth is is that life is life, I am me, and those facts are immutable. So write or don’t-write, but forget about me trying to change Life or trying to change my essential nature.

4. Trying advice from all kinds of writers, let them get inside my head such that I thought I was “doing it wrong”. That slowed productivity to a mere crawl.

3. Working 80 hour weeks from 2009 – 2016. stupid stupid girl.

2. Over-ambitious timetable and scheduling leading to overwhelm, overwhelm leading to procrastination, the gnashing of teeth, and yet more writer’s block.

1. Loving writing so much I thought it had to be perfect. Then I found out that “perfect” kills dreams.

Writing is Weird

There I am, sitting at my desk, working away on the sequel to Blood Rain, working title Blood Down the Bones.

Beautiful summer day, not too hot, gentle breeze, nicely sheltered from my mortal enemy, the sun. Cat sleeping on his perch nearby, spouse tending me with cups of hot and iced coffee. Perfect writing day, yes?

I finally make a decision I’ve been mulling for a few weeks, whether to kill off a certain character from Blood Rain.

I draft the scene.

Then I am overwhelmed with sadness. I had actual tears in my eyes. Sheesh.

like the character I just murdered, and didn’t want to kill them, but it was the only way to move certain pieces into place in the sequel.

How does George RR Martin cope? I don’t know. Is he a secret (or not-so-secret) sadist?

R.I.P. imperfect but noble character, you died a good death. I’m sorry I had to murderize you. And in such a pitiless, horrible way, too. The motherfuckers. How dare they do this to you?!

_________

Photo by Simone Dalmeri, used under a CC licence. I salute you as well, generous photographer

Reviewers Needed!

Hey y’all, I need some reviewers! 

Here’s the deal:

  • I send you an epub or paperback copy (your choice)
  • You post an honest review without spoilers on Good Reads or Amazon.ca (Canadian author, eh?) within thirty days of receipt
  • You send me a link to your review via email [ chloe(dot)a(dot)cocking@gmail.com ]
  • I send you a nice “thank you” note

Be advised that Blood Rain contains violence, gore, and other stuff not suitable for sensitive adults. If you enjoy horror, this is the book for you. If you don’t enjoy horror, give it a wide berth.

The short stories in Fables, Fictions, and Fantasies: A Compendium range from humorous to drama/action/adventure and back. There is a some cursing and a bit of (what I think of as) mild violence. It’s a much lighter read than Blood Rain, so it’s suitable for general adult readership.    Continue reading “Reviewers Needed!”

Other projects

Photo Credit. Used under a CC license
Photo Credit. Used under a CC license

So now that Blood Rain is winding down, what else is in the cooker?

  • A novel called Downward Dog (Intrepid yoga instructor pestered by ghosts becomes embroiled with the Cult of Anubis. She has to foil their plan to end the world)
  • Something I cannot classify yet about the city of New Westminster as seen through the eyes of pets
  • A book of essays and letters in which I complain about whatever comes to mind.