Some time after I had been on this site for a while, I realized I had managed to publish at least one story, poem, or essay each calendar month with one exception.
Being the kind of individual I am, it became an obsession to keep this streak going, and honestly, I think the quality of my stories suffered for it.
Well, as of midnight tonight, the streak is over, as I have not been able to produce any content for the month of November.
Part of me is quite sad about this, and even wonders if my inability to keep the streak going is a sign I no longer have the imagination needed to create more stories.
Another part of me is kind of relieved, because it would rather I make fewer stories of higher quality rather than try and meet some artificial deadline.
Such is life, I guess.
Comments
But but.....
You're the Queen of short stories... long live the Queen! lol....
Loving Hugs, Popcorn Lady :)
Blighters Rock
It happens. Don't worry about it. Nobody (except you) is counting and next month is another month.
Amateur means “for love.”
We write because we love it, Dot. When it becomes a duty, it becomes a job.
The great Cal Ripken (no amateur, he!) advised players not to try to break the record of consecutive days of play, because going for that record hadn’t made him a better ball player. Players are better when they take extra rest when needed, and over the course of a long season, it WILL be needed.
So if your muse needs a bit of a break, don’t be too hard on her. She’ll be back!
Hugs,
— Emma
No content; no big deal
When I retired I thought, "Great I'll have plenty of time to write. I'll crank out lots of stories. I'll clean up that bone pile on my hard drive of unfinished stories. I currently have 11 unfinished stories and 9 ideas in a document titled "Story Ideas" that have enough to build a story on.
It isn't about time to do the work, it's about my muse being moved to let the words flow. I'm not a very prolific writer... I don't let that bother me most times. I concentrate on making what I do write worth the read. If I'm working on a story and reach a point where what I'm writing doesn't quite seem right, I lay it aside for a while and let it mull around in my subconscious. Sometimes I don't get back to it for years.
I'm working on one that I started when my 23 year old granddaughter was a baby. I'm near the end, and have hit another of those spots. I'll get back to it soon... I hope.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
No worries.
"Forcing stories" might mean that what you write would not please you.
And us readers, who have happily enjoyed hundreds of your stories, would be 'brought up short', wondering "What the heck is this? This is not a 'Dorothy Story'".
(Not suggesting you do this. Please.)
Rare, but a lot times: An author, or a TV series, choses a 'graceful end', rather then produce ever decreasing quality.
M.A.S.H did so. And the TV series lasted longer than Korean War that it was set in.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got so ... whatever ... that he >killed< Sherlock Holms.
Our "famous at least on BC" Angharad has gone from daily to weekly Dormousing.
My 'Haiku Muse" dropped "Fourspace Tapestries" on me, then has gone missing ... for forty years. (At least she drops other things on me ...)
Our other Famous Cycler, Maddy Bell, is behind, and probably cannot meet, her self-imposed kilometer-age goals for the year.
---
Care for yourself first. "Nobody can pour from an empty pot."
And your M.Y.T.H. series alone ...
... has had other authors 'playing in your yard'.
Whatever your Muses dictate ...
THANK YOU!!!
Jeez, and I posted that it been 5 years between my posts...
Yes, I have the stories created, but life got in the way, so I'm the opposite of you...not posting every month, I don't post every year...
TGSine --958
Hey! You're doing way better than ...
Scheherazade and that nasty old psycho king.
It took her a thousand nights of cliff-hanger stories to win him over, but you 'had us' with your first coupla stories.
But, we know Lady S was under rather more pressure than anyone here... One case of writer's block for her and her next stop would be the Chopping Block ...