September flew by, and I struggle to fathom where the time has gone. I expected this, but it still shocks me that it’s October already. The first Wednesday of the month makes it Insecure Writer’s Support Group day!
What makes me insecure this month? The fact I’m starting this month’s writing the same place I started August. I thought it’d be smooth sailing after I overcame the scene I mentioned last month, but then my progress just stopped. It’s the same problem I had with my other scene. I can’t make it flow from A to B in a way I like. Except, instead of mulling over options like last time, my brain just quit. No input, output, or desire to figure it out. I worked on some art as I waited for that spark to return.
When a week passed and I still hadn’t gotten anything, I took drastic measures and I skipped it. Typically this gets me in trouble because my writing turns choppy, but I had stuff I wanted to write, and dwelling on this insignificant transition was holding me up.
That put me back into the scene where my main character is contending with the enemy who makes his life miserable, and the words once again flowed. (August’s post, like I said.)
My son, curious why Mama was sitting at her computer cackling, asked me what was going on. After I explained the scene to him, he asked to see a picture of this horrible villainess.
I didn’t have one.
In all my decades of working on this story, I’ve never drawn Ira.
So, to appease my son, I sat down and sketched her out.
At first, he asked, “why does she look like Derek?” I then had to wince and explain to my colorblind child that her hair was green and Derek’s hair was red. 
Though, to his point, she does have the diamond skin markings and accompanying leaves that are part of Derek’s identifying features. I tried to make her leaves a little more spiky to relay a meaner look, though I think the blood on her hand sends the “I’m evil” message pretty well.
I’m progressing well at the moment, but considering I’m where I was 2 months ago, it does make me wish I was at least a little bit further along.
IWSG Question of the Month – What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?
Escapism into otherwise impossibility, and the fact that you can make up pretty much anything and have it work if you do it right. At least that’s why I love Fantasy.
What’s your favorite genre? What do you like best about it? Do you ever skip sections of your writing just to keep your momentum going?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
I’ve never had to skip, but it sounds like a good idea when one scene isn’t working but you know what else you want to write. I’m sure that part will come to you.
I always skip over a tough scene and come back later to connect the dots. By then, I’ve usually figured it out.
I’ve only known one person who was colorblind and he said reds and greens were just a wash of grey. Is that how your son sees them?
I’m not sure if they’re gray to him, because he can distinguish gray when looking at my pictures, and he can tell sometimes correctly identify which color is which when they’re different shades. He can’t see much difference between blue and purple either. He calls his lavender-colored pillow a light blue, and he thinks my royal purple robe and his dark blue blanket are the same color and forgets which one is which color. I grew up with a color-blind brother (passes through the mother’s genes), so we caught my son’s condition when he was pretty young and I’ve been able to give the teachers a head’s up.
Love your artwork!!!
I haven’t added any words to my WIP in over a month. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Let’s hope both of us can get back into our writing cave and be productive.
I definitely skip sections of my WIPs in order to keep the productivity going. I always end up with things like “INSERT FIGHT SCENE HERE WHEN YOU THINK OF IT” in my first drafts.
I always love seeing your artwork. Thank you for sharing!
Escapism for me too!
I love the villainess and that you drew her for your kiddo! That’s awesome.
I’ve found skipping something that I’m stuck on or is slow to write helps me keep moving sometimes. Like I hate writing descriptions, and there was a lot of it in my climax scene. I ended up inserting a note to insert it later and moved out so I could enjoy writing the climax. It sounds like you’re figurng it out more than you think.
I don’t skip entirely. Sometimes I don’t have the right words to keep up with the flow or create an impact. I simply write down whatever comes to mind and highlight it, for editing later.
It sounds like you have a fan at home. That’s very special. Love the drawings of your characters. Don’t you hate writer’s block? Good on you for working your way through it.
I love these drawings, Loni! Gosh, I wish I were that talented. Bravo! As for progressing your story. Stop. Go out on an adventure with your son. Then come back refreshed to move forward on your project. Sometimes this helps me; going on an adventure with my kids and then coming back to my writing. All the luck with this!
Love your artwork! Your green-haired villainess is great.
I can’t skip. I’m just realizing now that it would feel like a mortal sin. Okay, that’s exaggerating, but maybe it’s just a case of OCD and my brain not allowing me to sneak ahead. It’s definitely a compulsion because I can’t think of any legitimate reason why I couldn’t. LOL. I struggled with the ending of my WIP for two years. Instead of letting it brew, I worked on many other projects. Once the ending came to me, I’m sure I went to the highest preverbal mountain and yelled.
So it was probably time to sketch up your villainess. That’s a good thing. Perhaps don’t put pressure on yourself to be where you wish you were. “Stop shoulding all over yourself.” You’ll get there. And skipping the scene was probably for the best for now. It’ll come to you later, I’m sure.
I watched the movie, Moonage Dreamer, at the cinema last night as part of the arts festival. It is a flash documentary about the life of David Bowie. He spoke about how he kept his songwriting fresh by constantly travelling. He could never stay put in a single country for long as his inspiration would dry up. I found this most fascinating as a writer. I guess these days with the internet at hand, we can travel virtually for inspiration. Good luck with your story!
Hi Lori,
Love the drawings. Instead of a blocked struggle, draw, except I can’t, not even a circles and triangles cat.
. Love 19th C novels, old editions, with the original illustrations.
Inherited grandparents books too, school stories, all with at least a few illustrations.
Borrowing a thought – – what is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?
I like to write in order, too, but if I have to skip a scene, I’ll put in a placeholder, like “this happens here”, “so-and-so needs to discover this”, etc.
When I take a break, I know my mind is busy figuring things out. Then I pop back to see where I left off and I’m inspired with a new thought or new direction. Taking a break can be the best thing you can do. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
I like the fantasy genre for that reason as well. Escape from reality!
Good luck with writing that scene when you come back to it.
Great drawings, by the way! You’re so talented!
I’ve been learning to jump around a lot through my story these days. Every time I hit a snag that stops me for more than a week, I jump forward in the book (or possibly back to an earlier snag.) I’ve wasted months trying to force my way through a scene that just isn’t coming. Maybe things won’t be any better when I return to the snag later, but no more sitting around for months with no signs of progress. That’s too depressing.
I hate skipping but do force myself to jot down a couple notes, and then, continue on.
Love your villain (kids notice everything).
I’ve definitely skipped over scenes and come back to them if I need to. I hate doing it, but sometimes it helps to get to the next spot.
For some reason, the last time this happened, it was when my characters met with a dragon, which I thought I would have fun writing, but then… I struggled. I think I had a serious case of perfectionism going on, and I had to run past it and come back to it.
I hope your writing flows more smoothly this month!
Beautiful art as always! Writing is always ebb and flow…sometimes the faucet runs, sometimes it doesn’t. But keep returning to it because it will never stop working 🙂
See you in November!
Ira definitely looks evil, Loni. I envy people who have the ability to draw characters. If I get stuck in a scene, I’ll just write down whatever words I can come up with to capture my ideas and then move on, knowing I’ll come back to rework the whatever words. Happy October to you!
I type my plot notes into my WIP for that very reason, so I can skip forward if I want.
You are so talented! Love the pics!
Great artwork! You can definitely tell they are from the same universe but different sides of the good/evil divide. I don’t really skip ahead in writing but if I’m stuck, might write a placeholder or “fluff” scene that I can sharpen up later.