Why I haven't written in a while. · 10:42pm Apr 27th, 2012
There are a number of reasons I haven't written anything in a while, and as I have this blog, and at least some people who actually read the thing, I figured I'd share. In no particular order:
Having Worlds Beyond declined by Equestria Daily has taken the wind out of my sails about that story. The last time I seriously considered tackling the revisions to make it meet their standards, I just wound up grimacing at the thought. I could continue it without their imprimatur, of course, but the idea of just giving up on them doesn't sit well with me either.
Then there's the usual poor time management sort of thing. I read a lot of webcomics, follow the Something Awful forums, and (of course) ingest a lot of pony-related material. I have over three dozen ponyfics bookmarked to read, not counting ones I've favorited—those are just the ones I'm meaning to check out at some point! And I RP on a pony MU* (Equestrian Dawn, if you care). And then there's the usual 'keeping body and soul together' stuff: sleeping, eating, bathing, going out and about, and so on.
I'm also, I have to admit, not great at carrying through with things long-term. The Monster Mash got done because it's not one long story but six short stories. I had a pretty good idea when I sat down to write each one how I wanted the story to go, and the first draft of each was written in a continuous writing session. On longer-term projects, both motivation and inspiration grow harder to come by. Which doesn't work well when I start thinking about "season"-long tales like Worlds Beyond or epic journeys of imagination like The Pantheon of Harmony or To Serve.
Still, I do still want to be an author. And as a wise man said of a different field of creative endeavor:
So I'm going to take tomorrow to write something. I'm not sure what yet, but right now I'm thinking of giving The Monster Mash another coat of wax and working on one of those long-promised bonus chapters. I figured I'll be more likely to do it if I say I'm doing it, so... that's what I'm doing. Wish me luck!
Great comic! Hilarious and so true.
Best wishes, and good luck. Hope the writing goes well!
I just console myself with the idea that nobody really cares if I write or not, because there are always lots of great artists on here making great stuff. Furthermore it's more important to write really good stuff than to write a lot of stuff, or to write all the time. I can think of a few authors on here and in the professional fiction world, too, who write TOO MUCH, TOO OFTEN, and it starts feeling like a whole lot of the same thing.
Sometimes the reason we don't write for a while is because we don't have anything new to say, and we're waiting to grow a little. Even a month can help, if you're stuck in a rut. This is one reason that books often take years to write, especially for the various geniuses in literature.
That's not to say "don't write," it's more like, don't force it. If you force it, your readers will know. You've got to "make it look easy," and that takes time. Try to write a little each day, but only publish 1/10 of it.