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?”
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. As with most freelance writers/authors, there’s always book promotion to do, that unfinished book waiting for attention, the new client waiting in the wings 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 home 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.
Starting anew is sometimes hard to do. It takes a shift in your consciousness. You must develop a new habit, make a new commitment and create a new comfort zone. It all boils down to change and I don’t think we humans are very good at change—whether it comes upon us or we facilitate it on purpose.
Will you be starting a new project soon—maybe in the New Year? Are you having trouble finding a good stopping place with your current project? Is ending it becoming as difficult as starting it was? How do you overcome or come to terms with the annoying insecurities that sometimes come with change in your writing world?