Unplug

Hey Queens & Kings!

It seems like it’s been forever since I last posted on my blog. I almost feel bad for neglecting it, but I just needed this time to unplug and unwind. After posting the seven day self-love challenge, I decided I needed to do a little extra self love time for myself. So I decided to just unplug from my blog, withdraw from social media a bit (I still check a couple highlights), but I just wanted to spend time just doing what I wanted and needed to do for me.

During my blog break, I moved to a new place, I did a lot of journaling, writing, reading, and research. I’ve read countless books from romance, paranormal, self-help, to sci fi books. I got lost in the art of words and even did a bit of book drafting on my own. I’ve been working on book ideas and trying to find something that I would love to share with the world. This blog is pretty informal, so it doesn’t take as much thought when posting how I’m feeling. But lawd! Coming up with great book ideas has been a task.

I have the habit of buying countless notebooks and begin writing short stories in them and I could love it for all of two weeks. I could crank out about 6 solid chapters and just lose my interest in them. So I just place that notebook on the shelf with the other notebooks full of stories that will probably never see the light of day. Sometimes I go back to them and read, then I’m inspired to finish it, but then I lose it again.

Then I sit and ask myself, am I really just putting too much pressure on myself? Of course, I want it to be great, but I can’t even finish something without second guessing it or just losing the thrill of writing it. When I write, I want it to feel natural and not forced. The second I feel like I’m forcing it, I just stop. But why can’t I just finish something that I love or at least like.

Recently, I read a blog and he posed the question what stops you from writing? Immediately, a few things came across my mind.

• Skepticism. I’m always skeptical about how it will be received by others. I’m skeptical about the depth of the story, the characters, just what is this going to bring to the readers. My head is always full of so many different ideas, that I’m overloaded with different things I could possibly do with a book. Then I stop and I’m thinking what type of book should I introduce myself with. Romance? Mystery? Scifi? Paranormal? I want to write so many things, I just don’t know which one to focus on first.

• Procrastination. I’d like to call myself a day dreamer. I daydream at work, home, outings with friends when I should be paying attention to a conversation. I daydream of ideas that I think could be great and I never sit and really take the time to fully write the thoughts out. Sometimes I drop a few thoughts in notes on my iphone, but I procrastinate really getting to it sometimes. Then by the time I sit to write it, I just don’t. It’s weird.

• Fear of failing. No one wants to fail. I’ve asked myself what I consider failing to be, when it comes to publishing a book and I haven’t quite figured it out yet. But I want my book to connect with my readers the way I intended it to. If it doesn’t, I failed and I don’t want that.

So I’m working on something guys. Hopefully, I can get it together to share with you all one of these days. But in the meantime, I’m just trying to figure it out. To my writer friends out there, what keeps you from writing and what helps you continue to write? I would love some tips.