For a while now I’ve been stressing about things I have no control over, but I’ve decided to focus on my main goal of reaching my dream. I’ve been reading Stephen King’s On Writing book, and he makes some good points. You do need to use as much time as possible reading and writing. So sitting around worrying about my job, story rejections, the world ending, etc. is a waste of time.
My biggest fear is that I’ll never become a novelist. Yes, I’ve moved on from writing before, but to have to move on again would be like having that yearned for pony dangled in front of a little girl and then have the pony taken away. It would be beyond cruel, but what am I doing about it? Well, I’m sitting worrying about it. This is a waste of my time, which would be better spent writing. So, I’ve told myself, ‘Nicole, just do what you got to do. Get it out the way, and then write.’
So this morning, I cleared my mind and got on with it. Then the strangest thing happened. I first had a few lines of dialogue pop into my head, so I wrote them down. Then, while I was working, the whole story came into my head, with characters formed, so I started to write, and before I knew it, the story was finished. Now it wasn’t a long story, it was a flash fiction of 200ish words, but for me, a planner, this was an unusual experience. I have had this happen before, but every time it does, it feels like I’m being taken over. The story is guiding me rather than me guiding the story, and this is what I think Stephen King means. I do have to admit that I find it more exciting when this happens. I think my story becomes more natural because it goes with the flow. Even though, when I do plan I normally walk the line like a drunk.
I’ve learned two things from this experience. One, interesting story ideas are buried when I focus on worrying. Two, I don’t need to plan my stories so much. What am I going to do now? Well, I’m off to edit and submit that story. Then I’ll have five stories floating out there ready to boomerang back, but hey, I can’t be published if I don’t submit.
So come on, Writing Beast, show me the way.
Keep writing, folks!
My latest, The Horror Tree, post can be found at the link below.
http://horrortree.com/setting-self-doubt-fire-5-step-plan-success/
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