Writing Conundrums by Bonnie Le Hamilton

I think Konnie got more writing/editing done this past week then I did. Of course, (and I have mentioned this before) Konnie doesn’t have to deal with ADD. Then again, I’m not sure my problem this last week was ADD.

Or maybe it was.

Here’s the gist of it − I spent all week trying to get some writing/editing done, but I couldn’t bring myself to open the manuscript I’d been working on, nor did I want to open my sci-fi, I wanted to work on another one of my unfinished manuscripts, the one I was thinking about at the time. So, I opened it, read through it, however, I only found a few typos, and had no ideas for changes, or additions.

Then my mind turned to another story I have sitting unfinished (I have way too many of those) so I opened it and started reading. And what happens? I suddenly have an idea for yet another story! Dang. So, I opened that one, and started reading it, but what happens? My head fills with a story I haven’t written yet.

A story with too many problems for me to fix. I’ve actually considered it several times, and tried to write it several times, and none of those attempts have come close to the idea in my head. I just can’t seem to write it. I’ve actually made four attempts at starting this idea and have four unfinished manuscripts to show for it. They just aren’t anywhere near what I have playing in my head.

So basically, I kept opening one or another of these four, or a fifth one kind of on the same theme (I actually have six manuscripts on what is essentially the same theme but I started those other two before I came up with this idea I’m talking about), intending to work on them, only to either just find some typos or find myself thinking about one of the others I didn’t have open, i.e. getting nowhere in my writing, all while Konnie managed to write her post, finish one of her manuscripts, and get some editing done on a second one, all between taking kids to doctors, attending meetings, and doing all her other chores, like grocery shopping.

I do know the story I want to write, and I even know when I come up with it – just before NANO 2016.

For those of you paying attention, you know that in 2016 I actually worked on two different stories for NANO. I started one, then started over with another one which intruded, but the fact is that the story I started writing first wasn’t quite the vision I had and the new idea seemed to fit the bill. Sadly, it didn’t.

Actually, what I need is a story somewhere between those two, with maybe a dash of the two I started since that. And maybe not. Then again, all four manuscripts are pretty good as is, and I really should finish them, even if they aren’t what I started out trying to write.

And I’m still not sure how to fix the issues so my idea makes sense and works as I envision it instead of how it is coming out on my computer screen, times four.

Adding to that is the problem that I do like these four stories, so I have to come up with even more character names and backgrounds to try yet again to write what is in my head, but I haven’t actually written this story because of the big problem I haven’t been able to solve in my mind.

So, anyway, have any of you ever had trouble writing a story that you can see in your head, but can’t work out on paper, and every time you try, you end up writing a decent story, but it isn’t the one you set out to write, not by a long shot? And I’m not talking about pantsing it, and things go off on a tangent (though admittedly I am a pantser), I’m talking about not even coming close to the story in your head.

I’ve used a written outline only once (and I veered off that anyway) and that was my sci-fi. My stories usually go off on tangents, but they don’t normally veer off course in the first paragraph. And I’m not sure how I can fix this.

Outline?

I still have the believability issue.

Brainstorming?

Maybe, but I’m not sure that will help, because that is how I came up with my first attempt at this idea.

What would you do?

If you have any good suggestions, please let me know. I could use it.

Happy writing everyone. 

Writing Distractions

How do you write a whole novel? Sheer persistence and it isn’t easy. Lots of things can distract you, or as least, they distract me, since being easily distracted is like the hallmark symptom of ADD. Getting distracted can be as simple as seeing something and realizing you need to take care of it.

Like the time I started to make my breakfast and barely even got the ingredients out, and not all of them, when I started doing the laundry instead, then I started to gather the dishes. Then an hour later, my blood sugar level told me I forgot something.

And distractions are everywhere. AOL News and Facebook are two major problems for me, but then so is the TV, which is sitting across the room calling to me right now, the sink full of dirty dishes, the birds flying past my window, and the full laundry hamper.

That’s a bit of life getting in the way, and a bit of ADD.

Like I said, it doesn’t take much, and last week, it wasn’t the little things, it was the big things. As Konnie said in her last post, her daughter was graduating from college. Well graduation was Friday, and late Thursday afternoon, Konnie and her husband arrived here.

So I managed to get some writing done on Thursday. After running a few errands and until around the time, I expected Konnie to arrive in Pocatello. See she couldn’t drive straight to my place, because I’d only given Konnie directions off the interstate and to nearest the gas station to my apartment, figuring with all the turns involved from there, it would be easier if I navigate once she got here.

So, anyway, I was pins and needles until she called saying she’d made it that far, and then, of course, I had company, meaning I didn’t even open up my computer, except to show Konnie what I’d written that day.

Friday, we drove up to Rexburg to be with her oldest daughter on her big day. Then Saturday after breakfast, we loaded all three of them into Konnie’s car, then I hopped in mine and led them out to McCammon where my husband is buried.

Since they live so far away, when my husband died, they’d only been able to afford for my sister to come up for the funeral, and while my niece had since had a chance to see where he was buried, her father hadn’t, and he wanted to see it. I lead the way.

Once he’d seen the place, we each returned to our respective homes. Though obviously, I had a shorter drive than they did.

But my weekend of distractions wasn’t over. You see, a week ago Sunday, a friend of mine past away, and her funeral was Saturday. After seeing Konnie and her family off, I hurried home, changed, and went to the chapel where the funeral was being held.

At least after I got home, I was able to open my computer again. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been distractions. I already mentioned some major ones, but well, there’s also a trip to the doctor on Monday, and errands, again, and on Tuesday, there was an unexpected visit from a friend, a trip to the eye doctor (new glasses) and a church meeting.

And I don’t need any of that to be distracted, since my thoughts can run off on tangents at the slightest inclination, frankly, it’s amazing I have finished six rough drafts. Most of my manuscripts are like the one Konnie requested a current copy of yesterday.

I did send it to her, but later, she complained that I’d started making changes to it, and hadn’t even finished the changes.

“Well, yeah, I know. I got distracted.”

The fact is one of my other stories started calling to me, and I’ve since set that one aside to work on the one I am now working on. I get distracted real easy. It’s amazing I’ve worked on this one for over a month.

Happy writing everyone! J