Writing hiatuses

[kreemi_pi]

I wrote 1,200 words of my novel today.

So what? I hear you ask. Well those are the first words I’ve written for it since July 31st. Two whole months of not adding a word to its current 82,000.

I think I needed a break from it. But it’s also stupid imposter syndrome saying, “It’s all crap, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t do this?”

The voice hasn’t stopped, I’ve just decided to ignore it .

Any of this sound familliar?

Hiatus is such a polite word for it lol.

I've been STALLED/STUCK/BROKEN for months. Years? Maybe.

Every now and then I hear "that voice" giving me ideas and urging me to get back to it.

When that happens, I smoke weed until I come to my senses. On extreme occasions I resort to alcohol.

 

[Nightaelf]

Hiatus is such a polite word for it lol.

I've been STALLED/STUCK/BROKEN for months. Years? Maybe.

Every now and then I hear "that voice" giving me ideas and urging me to get back to it.

When that happens, I smoke weed until I come to my senses. On extreme occasions I resort to alcohol.

I used to drown out that little voice with alcohol (to be honest, I used to solve just about everything with alcohol), but I’m not going to break my 438 days of sobriety for it. Better to just take a short hiatus.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes!
She’s an annoying bitch who makes herself far too present.

Sounds just like me

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I am trying to write three novels now, essentially interleaved (very different stories). I want to write a rougher than usual first draft of each, one at a time. Then make a major revising pass over each in turn, then do a polishing pass over each in turn. The hope is to be able to force myself away from it enough to lose touch with the writing I have done, so I can see it afresh when I go to revise and rewrite.

Currently, I am 25K into the first of the three, hoping to have all three novels end up around 60-70K, so on the short side of novels.

Lots of quote-trimming above.

I've got a 29,000 word novella ready to submit. A 74,500 word novel is now in "computer, read that back" mode. (I've already caught three separate places where I somehow typed "to to" that way, it's a useful exercise.) My ~200,000 word "big book" is roughly a third of the way through first draft at 63,000 words.

To accomplish that, I haven't published anything since November.

--Annie

 

[Statius]

I wrote 1,200 words of my novel today.

So what? I hear you ask. Well those are the first words I’ve written for it since July 31st. Two whole months of not adding a word to its current 82,000.

I think I needed a break from it. But it’s also stupid imposter syndrome saying, “It’s all crap, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t do this?”

The voice hasn’t stopped, I’ve just decided to ignore it .

Any of this sound familliar?

Yup. The one story that matters is the one I'm paranoid to write. How to say this? I care about everything I write, but they are all practice and experiment for the novel length one. If I leave a mistake or error in a published story, oh well. But THAT story has to be right, as close to perfect as possible. It freaks me out to the point of not writing it, and I am not the writer you are but yes, the freaking out and paranoia is definitely there.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I am not the writer you are but yes

You are much too kind

 

[Statius]

You are much too kind

You haven't read anything of mine! It's not false humility. I really haven't taken it too seriously until maybe last spring and haven't published anything new since maybe Feb? My 'Analea' series published in June isn't new, it was rewritten and edited and reposted. For the record anything new that does come out will be different though, and better .

 

[TheRedLantern]

Any of this sound familliar?

It's like you're reading my diary. I've been having my own writing crisis these past about three months that I described as a "hiatus."

It stemmed from a story that I was, on a personal level, more proud of than anything I'd written up until that point, here on Lit or elsewhere. The problem was that it wasn't a great stroker, and I didn't like getting comments and DMs to the effect of "I'm here to jerk it and what you wrote didn't help". So I took it down and "went on hiatus" aka "tried to decide whether to continue or not."

Over the last few months, I accepted that this place is what it is, our readers are who they are, and if I wanted to keep trying to connect with them it would have to be on their terms as well as mine. Chloe Tzang helped me see what it was that I needed to do in order to write things that will be accepted and enjoyed by our readers (so if I ever write something you enjoy, thank Chloe).

At this point, the hiatus is effectively over. I've got one story that I'm very excited about and is ready to go for Halloween that is my attempt to explore the middle ground between what I want to write and what readers want to read, and another one that I'm writing and that feels very promising to me that could also potentially be done in time to squeak into the end of the Halloween contest window (so thank you, @EmilyMiller for providing that stage for me to dance on).

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Writing hiatuses... more like publishing hiatuses. I don't know why. I guess it's because I've been conditioned by the fast Internet of things, and how everything is just consume and discard, like eating entire bags of candies. Even here I see that. I'm not really used to things going really fast, and I guess my brain tries to resist it. Then I have two people speaking to me: "When are you going to post? When are you going to post? You haven't posted in a long time, you better post! You have to keep your name on the new stories on every single categorie on Lit and outside of Lit and even on your own bedroom door. Nail that story on the door of your church so everyone gets to read it, and when they put it down, nail another one," while the other voice is like "Girlie, calm down! It's not that serious! Take it slow, make sure it's just right, because we have to publish something that's good!"

However, I got into a writing hiatus. September 20th marked the day of my last 556 words, and they were for a challenge. I think it was Day 275? I don't recall. I have the day number written on the same sheet where I wrote those words. My writing hiatus, in spite of my severe anxiety, was due to health issues that forced me to stop writing. Not my choice. I remember exactly the night of September 21st; I was ready to write, but I went to bed instead, completely exhausted out of nothing. Turns out I've been running on low platelets all along, plus gallbladder issues.

This wasn't a fun month.

 

[EmilyMiller]

so thank you, @EmilyMiller for providing that stage for me to dance on

Not my stage, I’m just the burlesque warm up act .

 

[NotWise]

Any of this sound familliar?

A publishing hiatus is familiar, but my reasons were different.

I published nothing from June, '23 to Nov, '24--almost a year and a half--after I got disappointing results on two consecutive stories. I'm not into beating myself up, and I wasn't down about the results. I simply lost focus. It's an ADD thing, I think. If I'm not focused on writing, then there are too many distractions for me to progress on anything.

My interest in writing eventually picked up, and I brainstormed a story that I could write without losing interest. It worked. I published that story and three more (plus an essay) in the last twelve months. Wondering now if my focus has slipped again.

 

[Abbafan]

I wrote a short novel that definitely was crap. LOL. I set the bar pretty low for my self, though. It was meant as kind of a homage to the trashy horror movies I grew up with, in novel form. That's actually not even my favorite sort of horror story, though. The ones I rate most highly are things like the Exorcist, Alien, or even some A24 movies like Hereditary, the ones that don't get heavy handed.

Lack of confidence lead me to aim low.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Maybe this will help:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-patterson-launches-go-finish-your-book-grants-for-authors/

--Annie

 

[Statius]

A publishing hiatus is familiar, but my reasons were different.

I published nothing from June, '23 to Nov, '24--almost a year and a half--after I got disappointing results on two consecutive stories. I'm not into beating myself up, and I wasn't down about the results. I simply lost focus. It's an ADD thing, I think. If I'm not focused on writing, then there are too many distractions for me to progress on anything.

My interest in writing eventually picked up, and I brainstormed a story that I could write without losing interest. It worked. I published that story and three more (plus an essay) in the last twelve months. Wondering now if my focus has slipped again.

I feel that.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I wrote 1,200 words of my novel today.

So what? I hear you ask. Well those are the first words I’ve written for it since July 31st. Two whole months of not adding a word to its current 82,000.

I think I needed a break from it. But it’s also stupid imposter syndrome saying, “It’s all crap, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t do this?”

The voice hasn’t stopped, I’ve just decided to ignore it .

Any of this sound familliar?

I’ve got a really long piece I’ve been working on almost a year now. I got stuck and let it languish for months. My wife suggested I write the next scene that I know happens and then work backwards. It was a brilliant idea.
I’ve been going back and listening (Speechify is worth the cost of the subscription) and finding lots of things I need to fix with what i know happens later in the book. I haven’t advanced much past where I’ve been, but I’ve cleaned up a lot of crap.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’ve got a really long piece I’ve been working on almost a year now. I got stuck and let it languish for months. My wife suggested I write the next scene that I know happens and then work backwards. It was a brilliant idea.
I’ve been going back and listening (Speechify is worth the cost of the subscription) and finding lots of things I need to fix with what i know happens later in the book. I haven’t advanced much past where I’ve been, but I’ve cleaned up a lot of crap.

Yeah - I often feel the need to write at least a first draft of the ending. It gives me a direction.

 

[Nightaelf]

I haven’t advanced much past where I’ve been, but I’ve cleaned up a lot of crap.

I can definitely relate to that! Since I write everything in Dutch first and only translate it into English later, I have to reread the whole story carefully. Sometimes something works fine in Dutch but doesn’t work in English, so then I have to rewrite parts.

With my current story I’m glad I decided not to publish a part of it yet, because now I can still make adjustments at the beginning since the story has taken a slightly different turn.

Unfortunately I’m stuck at the moment, so I’m taking a little distance from the story. I hope to continue soon. But what difference does another month or two make? I’ve already been working on it off and on for almost a year.

 

[Rob_Royale]

My little month long break just ended and I've banged out 14000 words since last Friday. Feeling good.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My little month long break just ended and I've banged out 14000 words since last Friday. Feeling good.

Cool

 

[DEFCOM5]

I find it amazing that so many talented / accomplished / skilled writers have that impostor issue.

I think it is the better you get at something, the less you see how much better you are than others because you keep raising your standard and expectations not realizing that the rest of the world is not rising theirs.

From where I stand, you are all on pedestal, so hearing your doubts is refreshing. I am not alone anymore!

@EmilyMiller, you are an incredible writer. It is absolutely normal to get tired / scared / bored / blocked with a story. We all have up and down in whatever you and that something that came easily now feels like work. The really important thing is that you kept writing beautifully. You will finish your novel. If you are not doing for monetary reasons, don't stress yourself. You will finish it when you finish it. Unless you have an editor breathes down your neck, write on your own time.

All i know that when your novel will get published, it will be wonderful to read.

 

[EmilyMiller]

All i know that when your novel will get published, it will be wonderful to read.

That’s very kind of you to say

 

[DEFCOM5]

That’s very kind of you to say

I have sample some of your writing and really loved reading it.

I cannot see why the novel would be different.

 

[DeMont]

I wrote 1,200 words of my novel today.

So what? I hear you ask. Well those are the first words I’ve written for it since July 31st. Two whole months of not adding a word to its current 82,000.

I think I needed a break from it. But it’s also stupid imposter syndrome saying, “It’s all crap, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t do this?”

The voice hasn’t stopped, I’ve just decided to ignore it .

Any of this sound familliar?

@EmilyMiller,
Good evening, just, my dear colleague. Unfortunately this "syndrome" I have been well acquainted with in the past.

First of all Believe In Yourself, you CAN do this, it's just a matter of finding your way through with the help of your 'Muse'. Don't give up. remember why you started the project and have faith in that idea.

Yes, you may well need a break from it... have one or two gratuitous short stories underway - nothing too deep and meaningful - that you can fall back on just to get yourself in 'writing mode' again. From what you are describing you have a form of 'writer's block' against plowing ahead with your novel without any real idea of what it is you're trying to achieve at this point in time, that will change given the chance.

As for hearing voices, I hear them ALL the time when I am writing, they are the voices of my characters demanding to be heard and demanding I put their thoughts down on paper (read document) As for a little voice telling you you're not good enough, yes, ignore it or, consciously, tell it to "Fuck off you little dweeb!", I do.

Deepest respects,
D.

 

[Djmac1031]

Any of this sound familliar?

Pretty much my brain the past four months.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Pretty much my brain the past four months.