Nope, you can’t. And I don’t mean that loving feeling. I mean your gut, your instincts.
Let me explain.
A month or so back I announced the end of my editing process. All I had to do was type it up, write the query letter and off to join the ranks of published authors. Except I barely touched my manuscript. Oh I wrote a few shorts but no traction on my WIP.
Then I drew a blank.
Nah, couldn’t be. I only get writer’s block when…but no it certainly was not writer’s block. Just take a few days off, concentrate on the query letter and by the time the first acceptance/rejection letters (or email’s) come back I would have this manuscript ready to go.
Then…nothing. I stressed over the query. Cobbled up something together, yadda, yadda, yadda, but the manuscript remained locked inside its blue binder.
Today, while it poured outside the window of the cafe I realized that yes, I hadn’t finish yet and my subconscious knew it, ergo, the walls came up as they usually do.
What was the problem?
I didn’t bother to wrap up the romantic subplot. I extended it, but did not finish it. Now it hangs there, but I have a good idea how I’m going to do it.
And it will be done.
Plus a (re)learned a valuable lesson. Writers can’t ignore their instincts. They might be wrong, but you do well to listen just the same.
And now for a video. Kings of Convenience-Failure:
Neither Here nor There.... 
Fantastic! Kudos for quieting up on the outside so your instincts could reach you, and for listening in that gorgeous cafe while the rain poured down. (Yes, in my imagination, it’s gorgeous, because inside you’re alive and feeling your work live.)
🙂 Good luck!!!!
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It certainly came alive. Some very vivid conversations among characters. Doing romance “realistically” is kind of hard, but well worth the effort.
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just added your link to my blogroll. love it. 🙂
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Thank you sputnitsa. Your welcomed in my neck of the woods anytime. You might want to check out my other writing based blogs, if you like, of course:
Sturm und Drang
and
Ruins of Empire
As for the shipping, I didn’t know what it was (in the fullest sense of the word) until I read Harry, A History. Great book by the way if you’re a Potter fan like me (Snape fans are also welcomed as well 😀 ).
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*cough* I don’t know WHAT would give you the impression I’m a Potter fan, or a Snape fan. CERTAINLY not my blog or my category cloud, which features one surly professor. Siriusly.
As for the writing blogs, I’m onto them next 🙂 Thankee
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Suuuure….
😉
Of course, I’ll have to wait until Friday to see it because it sold out on my local theater! You know, the movie that shall-not-be-named.
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Are you sure? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t really sold out, but rather a boggart, and all you had to do to watch the film was cast a Ridikulus! Um, I mean, I read that somewhere. Don’t know what I’m talking about. Harry who? 😉 Have fun and let me know when you see it. Thanks to my crazy diet, I can’t do a re-watch till the 30th myself… 🙂
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And I left my wand at home. Drat!
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I loved the image of you sitting in the cafe with the rain falling outside. The night I wrote one of my ghost scenes in POTL there was a thunderstorm outside. Perfect atmosphere.
And very true about listening to instincts. Our inner voice hardly ever fails us.
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If I had know that image was that evocative I would have gone into more detail. Or maybe not. Of course the scene I was writing involved a couple (Crissy and Antony) talking in a cyber-cafe while it snowed outside.
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