My process, unfortunate as it is, is to let a idea marinate in my head until I approach the date where I must act. Once that date is very close I pull the idea out of my head, slap it on the grill, and flash fry that sucker as quickly as possible. It is not a good process, and in my old age I am learning that I need to do things differently. I lack the writing stamina I once had. I presume this is due to generalized fatigue and poor sleeping habits. However, it could be due to a variety of attention hogging processes running at or about the same time. Such is the way (and paves the path for a need for a new way as oft discussed in this spot).
Tonight is that write night, where I will be putting multiple stories down on paper in an effort to secure the rights to write a 10K novella. I have several of these in me. Once I get into a story I can fire it off pretty quickly, but the marinating does take a while.
I have two that I m putting forward. The 3rd never really got there. The 1st is mostly soaked and the second feels like the one that is most ready for the grill… Okay I cannot carry this metaphor any further, because it is dumb. The fact is, I have some ideas that are not entirely formed yet and the time frame for forming them is nearly expired. As a result, I am putting out there what I got, and what I got would probably be really high level if it had a couple of revision passes. This is entirely the story of my writing career.
I don’t blame Covid or any external factors. I created the majority of those factors and within them there is still time to put butt in chair and words on page. The fact is I’ve been extremely lazy and unfocused. It shouldn’t take a deadline to focus me, but it generally does. This is a lack in life I need to permanently address. Once that happens, I can put out work with the best of them as opposed to watching the rest of them pass me by.