Covid Ate My Creativity

At first glance last week doesn’t seem much better productivity-wise than the week before, but I again got my blog posts done and scheduled earlier, and I did manage a few words on Wandering Wizards.

I’ve been struggling with the scene where Jessica meets her father for some time now, and Friday (right before bed) it finally hit me how to work it so I quickly jotted some notes down. And yeah, I know the best way to do it just forge ahead and worry about it in the edits, but this particular scene will set the tone for the rest of the book and I really do want to get to the end.

Hopefully the work will go a little smoother now, at least until I have to switch back to Howard and how he’s getting along with Anakaron. Howard thinks pretty quick on his feet, but he’s a little out of his depth here. And is Anakaron going to be content just having Howard as his prisoner? Or is he going to try to sway him over to the dark side?

I think COVID-19 ate my creativity. Not just the writing, but all of my creativity. In the beginning (back in March) I was still doing the odd bit of sewing or stitchery, getting out and taking pictures, but now – nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

I think about my stitchery and the two or three projects I have that are close to being done . . . but I can’t seem to generate any interest in them. And as much as I’d like a nifty, custom made mask – well, I’d rather buy one than make one, but the only ones I’ve seen are a little pricey. I did attempt one a couple of weeks ago, but the pattern needs some adjusting and that just takes too much effort.

I’ll glance out a window around sunset and think how pretty the sky is, but I haven’t once gone down to the beach or harbour to take pictures. In fact, I haven’t been down to the waterfront since March, and the beach is closed anyway. Oh, wait. I went down for the poetry group, but I’ve no urge to go down by myself.

But at least I’m hanging in there with the blog posts, and I’m working sporadically on Wandering Wizards, which I’m renaming Blood Ties. It makes better sense as a title. And I’m finally stirring myself to do a bit of editing, which is a very good thing because after Blood Ties is finished I need to start editing An Elemental Spirit.

And who knows, maybe by keeping busy it’ll bring that creative back.

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Wordage Report

Editing – 3 pages
Slow going on Visitation Rites, but at least it’s going. It was kind of a strange horror story to begin with, and I’m not sure at this point that it’s even going to work.

Blood Ties (formerly Wandering Wizards) – 728 words
Actually, it was a lot more words than that, but I didn’t like the words that I wrote so I deleted them all and started over. Twice.

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
544 (regular blog)+ 792 + 345 = 1681 words total

Weekly Prompt – 687 words

Total Words – 3,096

New Prompt
This week’s prompt is from Reedsy Prompts
Every so often, people have to empty their dream catchers.

Goals From Last Week:
I don’t know the exact count of words I spent on Blood Ties because I didn’t think to count the words I had before I started deleting, I just counted the words I ended up with. This is the transition scene where Jessica finally meets her father, and when you think about it, how could it be anything but awkward? I just didn’t think it would be so awkward to write.

I started the prompt story a little earlier in the week, and I think I got a better story for it. Or maybe it was the prompt that seemed a little more normal that usual. This week I’m trying a prompt from another new source – it looks interesting.

I finally got tough on myself with the editing, but I forgot how much work Visitation Rites actually needed. And then Friday night, when I was looking through my papers for something else altogether, I found the few paragraphs I’d jotted down for Bone Moon. And then, of course, I couldn’t find the copy of it I’d been working on. *sigh*

Goals For This Week:
1. More new words on Blood Ties. Hopefully now that I’m over the hump with that sticky scene things will get better, but I still have Howard to deal with . . . .
2. New prompt story – I didn’t like the prompt I chose, even before I finished this post, so I’ve already switched it for a new one. LOL
3. Continue with the edits on Visitation Rites, and if I lose interest in that I can get back to work on Bone Moon. Heck, maybe I’ll work on it anyway.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?