WIP Wednesday is Jumping Trains

And just like that, I have found my inspiration again.

If you’ve been reading my blog (or are one of the unlucky few who I chat with about my writing on a regular basis), you’ll know that I’ve been struggling the past few months.

This novella – I know I have a good story there. Or at least the seed of a good story. Something just isn’t right with it. Still. So, I decided to take a little look at my idea file, since there are a bunch of great anthos coming up that I’d love to sub to. And then there’s the pesky NaNovel from 2011 (and 2010, but let’s not go there).

Since the novella is actually set in the same world as my novel (though not necessarily the same time frame), I thought I should just go back to the novel in the hopes that it will help me get “unstuck”.

And – wow. I mean, we have to love our writing, right? As authors. We have to be excited about an idea to be able to devote our time, energy and creativity to it.

And I know this is a very, very rough first draft that is maybe halfway done, if that.

But re-reading the finished chapters, going back through the months of prep, and outlining, and brainstormed notes made me remember how excited I was to write this book.  I know. Completely obvious, yet oblivious at the same time.

I would be an idiot if I didn’t go where my inspiration takes me, so I’m suddenly back at work on my novel, letting the novella stew, and man, it’s SO GOOD to be writing again.

These past few months, I’ve been reworking the same rejected short stories over and over again (I give them at the very least, a quick read, and in some instances a tweaking if needed before I send them back out again), so writing something brand new – and something I am EXCITED about again – well, it’s a high unlike anything else.

So, although having the 1st draft of the novella done by the end of the month was my original goal, and abandoning it for now kind of feels like a failure (even though these deadlines are self-imposed), I think the idea just needs to brew a little while longer.

For now though, I’m jumping on the story that inspires me at the moment and enjoying the ride.

(It also doesn’t hurt that when I did my character sketches, I did a mock-up of my MC, and I borrowed Jamie Bamber’s face for my idea board 🙂 )