[From the Archive] Regaining Equilibrium

Well, that should tell you the post is OLD. This is crunch time at the Day Job. Spring is my “busy season”. There is no equilibrium here. 😎

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The deadline last week was met – with a day and a half to spare. Now I struggle to get my equilibrium back. This particular project has another deadline in two months, but it’s an “easier” deadline, now that the project is already “started”. The getting started is always the tough part. This means I can focus more on some of “my” stuff – beyond what I was able to accomplish with Potato Moon (which was TOO MUCH FUN!) I mean, dude, seriously? When someone like Peter David gives you a chance to play in his sandbox – and with Keith R.A. DeCandido to boot – you put off the other deadline for a couple of hours. (It was only 200-500 words.)

But, as with many other “endings”, there’s a “let down” phase where many writers finish a particularly challenging project then have a mental wipe. The only creative thoughts seem to focus on tying one’s shoes (if they’re not wearing slip ons) and feeding ourselves. The exception to the rule (and almost every rule in writing is Jay Lake – Jay Lake is…exceptional).

Then we face the “what next” phase. Especially for the majority of us not lucky enough to have a multiple project contract of stories/novels/scripts planned and/or sold already. For me, now that I’ve had a couple of “down days”, I’m more than likely going to pull things I started when I was procrastinating and the other assorted half-finished projects sitting in my computer, do some read throughs and editing to see which plot bunny is coming out of hibernation. That kind of “busy work” is excellent for both honing what’s been written before – since, hopefully, we’re all learning and growing our skillsets – and to jumpstart the creative process. This is the kind of “busy work” that is necessary for many of us, especially since we don’t know what will hit when.

A plot bunny from months or even years ago may just now be ready for development. It’s also time to look at some of the “business” aspects that may have been neglected. Since my Spring has been stupid busy, my desk is a disaster. I know I have outstanding submissions that need to be resubmitted. I have two anthologies I know I want to do stories for, and have barely begun.

Now is the time to shake off the cobwebs and get to work. I’m also excited by a convention coming up next week in Okalahoma City – SoonerCon. I always get a creative jolt of Frankensteinian proportions at conventions just from the company of other writers. So, if you’re in OKC June 5-7, 2009, we’re at the Biltmore Hotel. Come see us.