What does a writer do when she comes to the end of a project? Many of us panic. We feel pangs of fear and we wonder, “Will I ever have another writing job?†“Will I be inspired again?†“Has the well run dry?†“Am I washed up as a writer?â€
What is a writer to do when he or she is flooded with writer’s doubt? I say, get back on the horse—er, the office chair.
I have a love/hate relationship with my writing projects. Once I get involved in the writing or editing, I am completely immersed. I am usually also completely in love with the work. But when the job is over—when I finally finish the book or the commissioned work and there’s nothing else on the horizon, I feel an annoying void.
I must say that it is rare that I don’t have back to back projects lined up as far as the eye can see. Like most freelance writers/authors, there’s always book promotion to do, that unfinished book waiting for attention, the new client on the horizon and a filing cabinet brimming with article ideas.
Yes, there’s always work to do, but it requires starting over and that’s not always easy. I guess this is a type of Writer’s Block. When you’re involved in a project there’s a sense of comfort involved. Each day you walk into your office knowing that you will spend the day working on Chapter Twelve, editing a client’s memoir or finishing up the research on a major article. Once it’s finished, you have to start fresh. If there are no priorities among the projects on your shelf, you must decide what to work on. You have to determine which new project will pay off in either earnings, satisfaction or as a career move.
And that’s where I sit today. My book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book is finished. I have been promoting the heck out of it for the last five weeks. I’ve decided to self-publish my book of cat stories. But I can’t spend my days working on it because, at this point, there’s no money in this work.
One look at my bank balance and I realized that I need to be working on something that is more apt to pay me now. With my current client on hiatus until after the holidays, this means getting back into article-writing, which is how I started my career. I always put article-writing on hold when a book project comes along and when I have a paying client. And when I need some funds, I go back to it.
So this week, I am interviewing and photographing a neighbor who has a wonderful cottage industry going—she designs and manufactures organic tee shirts with gardening and earth-friendly slogans. Country Woman Magazine is interested in her story. I’m researching the new PE programs many schools are adopting. Back in 1999, I wrote about the wave of innovative PE programs sweeping some of the nation’s schools in an attempt to reverse the trend of obesity in kids. I’m following up, now, with what’s new in 2006. I once wrote about mother daughter book clubs. This morning I heard about one instance where kids read to pets in the St. Louis Library. If there are other such programs, I may write a piece on this concept.
The void is over—back to work. In the meantime, I have an announcement. Our Sophie kitty is a pin up girl. A friend, the founder of All For Animals and a writer, Karen Stevens, wrote a piece for CatWatch Magazine about how to keep your cat safe during a home remodel. She interviewed me because of problems that came up with our cats during remodeling projects here. I took a pix of Sophie for the article. We were excited to see our little tortie immortalized in print. But fame has not gone to Sophie’s head. She just took one sniff at the magazine and resumed her fascination with the Christmas tree.
Keep writing. And don’t forget to order your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, at a one-time prepublication discount offer. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html