I've never been a fishing person, but I understand about lures. They're shiny and colorful and they make you want something that may not be good for you.
The lure of food that is not healthy, the lure of staying up all night reading, the lure of the bookstore. The lure of a new story idea.
The reading lure is my hardest to avoid, but today I'm working on resisting the lure of a new story. A shiny, golden, promising new idea that doesn't have the plot problems or the pacing difficulties of the story I'm working on now.
This new idea is like an unexpected present. It sparkles and tempts. It has no sagging middle or inconclusive end. It has only the bright promise of something fun and exciting to explore. It's Eve's apple and it's Pandora's box.
According to Dictionary.com, ambush is a synonym for lure. Exactly! I feel like I've been ambushed by this lovely new story. She beckons, she tempts. It would be so easy...
Another synonym for lure is sitting duck.
According to UsingEnglish.com sitting duck means something or someone that is easy to criticise or target. Yup, that's my poor WIP. The target of all my frustration and angst. The old story looks tawdry compared to the bright shiny new thing. It's novelty has worn thin and it's trouble more often than fun. It's work. Not like the new idea that invites me to play.
How is a writer to resist?
It's really all about self-discipline. I'm not good with self-discipline when it's about self-imposed work ethics. If I had a professor awaiting a paper or an editor awaiting the book, I'd have someone else imposing a deadline. As it is, I'm accountable only to myself. A VERY bad thing. I have no willpower when it comes to doing something that's only for me. None, Nada, Zilch.
Well, maybe a smidgen. That's why I'm writing this blog rather than the new story. If I promise - in public to hold off writing the new story - at least until summer - maybe I can make myself stay the course for the current book.
I'll let you know how it goes.
But what about you? How do you stay on course? What allows you to resist the lure of a shiny new idea and work on polishing the tarnished, shabby WIP into something magnificent?
Or are you one of those people who's just not tempted?
I'm ALWAYS tempted. But I promise myself the reward of the new story when this one is DONE. I may sometimes let myself write the first page, but that's it!
ReplyDeleteIt's "Eve's Apple and Pandora's Box" -- excellent analogy! I love it.
ReplyDeleteHow do I avoid the temptation of the shiny new story? I use it as a reward, definitely. I also write down ideas in different notebooks if they come to me for each story. One story is really calling me--actually one I wrote a long time ago, but rather than revise it, I am reading through it to salvage a few scenes that I know will work in the new idea I have. Just playing with the emotional elements.
Blogging helps, too. I use blogging as a place to vent my frustration with the current WIP all the time ;-)
I'm totally tempted, Mary. I just went through that when I was trying to revise my last MS. I got through it by using the scenes that kept coming to me for my blog's weekly prompt (the Sunday Squirrel). I also took notes as things came to me so I wouldn't lose the ideas.
ReplyDeleteReading is my other vice. If I start a book, I can almost guarantee I won't put it down until I'm done, so I have to get my writing done early and then start the book. ;-)
Great analogies here. Good luck!
Ooooo, I loved this post and can soooo relate! I don't have any discipline, which is really a bad thing when it comes to my writing. Well, at least the editing. I don't like editing. :(
ReplyDeleteGreat post, girl!
p.s. Thanks for the encouragement today! I appreciated it!