The act of writing is hard, but sometimes the act of starting is even harder.
Yesterday I decided to start drafting that new novel that I have been thinking about. It will be the fourth book-length project I will be handling this year and it’s mentally and emotionally exhausting to go to that place all the time, to dig out the deepest and best parts of me and print it out in a manner that communicates effectively and beautifully. Because I was already terrified going in, and because I have many other projects that I’m working on, organizing and optimizing my time is essential. So I decided to use the same BIAM notebook that I used to revise my 2nd novel. It worked then, and I hoped it would work on something brand-new. It’s definitely a lot more difficult to work on something so new in my mind that I have no idea how 80% of it is going to pan out. The process expects me to hammer out an outline in the second day (today) and I simply have no idea what that would look like. I have a general idea of how I would like things to go, but other than that, all I have is a fairly clear idea of the kind of message I want to impart to readers, and I am not even sure it’s the message I will end up telling. Experience has taught me that a lot of things change as I work through the process.
But today, I am jumping in again with the mantra, “Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.” — Horace. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow. But I know that today I worked on this book as best I could. And for the next 28 days I plan on jumping in again and again because being a writer means that’s what has to happen.
Tracey Baptiste 