Debating with Myself

Blog Post no. 516

I have a very minor dilemma that actually isn’t a dilemma. I want to do something and I know I shouldn’t and I’ve learned through years of inactivity that there is an obvious solution. Even thought I know that, I still have this want. I think the want is really an amalgamation of fatigue, stress, fear, and maybe a bit of boredom. It’s the worst kind of want to act upon and I know that and to be honest, I already know I’m not going to act on it, but it’s still there while I write this.

I kind of feel like I want to write a short story (and I guess edit the ones I’ve already written) but I have to keep working on the edits for the Invasion Novel. It’s classic. I’m tired of working on the same book and I want to do something new. But, really, I just want to stop editing and telling myself that working on something new is a good compromise. In my experience, it isn’t. (There’s also a bit of fear of missing out since other writer friends are getting stories published and if I want to do that too, I need to finish some more shorts of my own).

I’ve learned that the path forward is to finish what you’ve started. Unless you intend to completely abandon the work-in-progress because it isn’t working out or there is a very good reason to put it on hold, you really should plug away and finish it before diving into the shiny possibilities of something new. You may think that since you have some motivation to do the new thing, you should act on it, but it’s a trap. You’ll end up doing that over and over again and never have anything actually finished.

I’ll have more time for short stories (and other new things) when the next person (or people) are reviewing the Invasion Novel. Until then, I’m going to keep working on these big edits, feeling like it’s all a big risk, changing what’s there for potentially more plot holes or veering in the wrong direction. I can’t trust those feelings, though. They’re a product of that fatigue and fear and while there is a chance that a change won’t work or could actually make the story worse, the process of making the change is necessary in order to discover that and there’s always the previous draft to go back to if everything goes off the rails.

I don’t know what the point of this post was. I think because I’m a little drained that it was one of those posts where I have a feeling and I figure out the point while I write it. I suppose this time, it’s about finishing things, or sticking with something, or the Invasion Novel in general. Hopefully it was somewhat interesting and I’ll have more news next week!