My house is clean, screens and a new screen door have been installed, my junk is reorganized, the house trim is repainted, email correspondence is up-to-date, and magazines are read. All in an apparent effort to avoid editing my novel.
I read recently that fear of artistic failure can present as anxiety and the inability to finish the work. And I keep hearing (thank you, Jamie) that my friends don’t know what’s stopping me, and I don’t really know, either. Is it fear?
I’m not alone in having a novel close to finished (you know who you are!), so I am offering a prompt to help us take the next step, whatever that is.
⣥ Get comfortable for thirty minutes. Take a bath, lie down on a swing, go for a slow walk, or take yourself out for sushi.
⣧ Think about where your project is. Do you need to put it in order? Write the denouement? Send it to your favorite reader?
⣟ Hold the next step in your mind and imagine what would make it more fun. Having a cut and paste party? Taking a trip to the Keys for some Hemingway inspiration? Printing it like a real book, with a pretty cover and acknowledgments page?
⣿ Plan the party, trip or vanity printing for your work in progress. Then give yourself a treat, because you’ve already taken the next step!
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| Roseate Spoonbills and Friend at Canaveral National Seashore |
| This post was boring, so I added the photo because pink birds make everything more fun. |
I used the printing my novel as a book prompt, and even though I haven't done it yet, just envisioning it that way helped me get going. I have started editing, and I am writing the denouement as the spirit moves me. Yay!