{"id":1104,"date":"2010-06-09T16:12:27","date_gmt":"2010-06-09T20:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2017-03-15T12:36:32","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T16:36:32","slug":"writing-wednesday-letting-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/09\/writing-wednesday-letting-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Wednesday: Letting Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's funny how themes seems to surface amongst many of my writer friends at the same time.<\/p>\n

Whether it's being inundated with too many ideas all at the same time (I know I'm not alone in feeling this, as evidenced by fellow writers Aaron Polson<\/a> and Barry Napier's<\/a> recent blog posts) or letting go of various things that block our writing, it just shows you how, even though we're on our own different paths, we seem to go through many of the same trials tribulations and experiences.<\/p>\n

So the theme lately seems to be letting go — from Jenny, who is letting go of expectation<\/a> in favor of motivation, or Nicole, who is allowing her Muse to come through<\/a> (even if it scares her) by letting go of a too-rigid mindset in order to tell a story unique to her. <\/p>\n

Lately my own adventures in letting go seemed to be focused on putting aside stories that do not seem to be working. One of the comments on Nicole's post about being stuck on a story stemming not from writer's block but more about wanting to make the story work, even if it was flawed, really hit home to me.<\/p>\n

If you've been reading my blog for the last little while you'll see that I keep adding more #WIPs to the pile rather then finishing them.<\/p>\n

It's hard to let go, especially when you've spent so much time on a story already, but I find that you can chip away at a story for so long, but eventually it comes to the point where you know whether the story is working or not. Often letting go is the best thing you can do. Maybe I'll be able to put the finishing touches on all those stories that are half-finished some day. But for now, I'm letting go of the ones that are stalled and going where my creativity is taking me instead of forcing myself to finish them simply for completion's sake.<\/p>\n

I don't look at it as giving up or failing. It's not like I've put the tales completely out of their misery by trunking them. After all, my unfinished story trunk is a virtual one and it can always be opened again when the mood strikes me.<\/p>\n

Maybe those ideas just need to percolate a little while longer…<\/p>\n

My Current WIPS<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n