Getting Back to Work

January is almost over now and it’s been the month during which I have eased out of the sabbatical I took and back into regular writing. I decided to go with another project than the one I’d worked on before I took my sabbatical and I’ve chosen the third book of the Isadora Goode series — “The Misadventures of Isadora Goode” — to ease back into writing. It was a good choice, as I really needed to get back into the flow and the novellas were easier to commit to than a novel might have been.

I’m glad I took that sabbatical in the first place, though. I had run myself ragged, always trying to keep up with the number of projects I’d plotted already and with the things happening to me and my family in real life.
The two months of respite gave me the chance to recharge, just write for fun, remind myself why I love writing so much. I also was productive in other ways, returning to crocheting, something I haven’t done for years now, taking a more relaxed approach to decorations in my journals, just doing a bit of this and a bit of that.
I’ve been reading, too, plotting new stories, and just thinking my life and my work in general through. I will not let it get to the point I was at in November again, that much is for sure.
It’s not that I’ve given up on writing completely, either. I’ve finished two Star Wars fan fictions which I really love. I’ve written some blog posts. I just haven’t written anything strictly ‘for work’ and I feel much better because of it.

Yet, with two months completely off work, I have also grown a little lazy. To a degree, it’s fine. It was something I wanted to do when taking my sabbatical.
It also means, though, that I had to ease into a regular writing habit again. I needed to find my stride again, get used to sitting down for several hours a day to write day by day, at least Monday to Friday. It’s not easy to go from ‘I write if I feel like it’ to ‘I have to write X chapters this week to make my quota.’ Yet, that is what I had to do.
During January, that is what I have done. As mentioned, I chose a novella set to get back into work, because for one thing a novella is normally around eight to twelve chapters if I plan it — so I can always see the end of the work. I also didn’t push as hard as I might have, giving myself a little leeway. It’s dangerous, as I have to make sure that ‘a day without work’ or ‘some days without work’ don’t turn into ‘months without work,’ but it’s also necessary. Not giving myself that leeway has led to my almost-burn-out in the first place, after all.

Now, I’m more or less up to par. There will always be ups and downs, times when I get a lot done and times when I struggle with just getting the bare minimum of my work finished.
January was a bit of this and a bit of that for me. I did not finish “The Misadventures of Isadora Goode”, as I had planned and hoped to, but I got two of the three novellas done — the last, longest one is going to be finished after I’ve done the editing of “The Necromancer’s Notebook” this month. I won’t even have to change the project file, as “The Necromancer’s Notebook” is volume two in the “Isadora Goode” series.
Despite not writing as often and as much as I wanted to, I’ve also almost met my quota for the month — on months where I don’t edit, the quota is 50,000 words. I have managed to get 48,000 words done, despite only easing back in. I’ll be honest — on quite some months, I’m actually well above my quota. Almost meeting it on a month where I’m just getting back into things was good enough for me.

I’ve also been thinking about why I wrote my first short-story collection very quickly when I decided to try the format out, but have struggled with both “DI Colin Rook” and “Scholomancer” (which is not yet done).
I think I know where the problem lies and how I might solve it now. The first collection (which will be out at the end of May as “The Lady of the Dead”) has a rising threat. The tension is pushed throughout the five stories and a common problem and enemy connects them. There are five different things which happen to Joanna and Alice, but there is the same enemy behind them. “DI Colin Rook” and “Scholomancer” are just a collection of stuff which happens without that person behind it all, without that plot-thread going through all of it. They are not connected.
I will go back to “Scholomancer” and work the stories over, connect them in a way (“DI Colin Rook” is written and it’s fine as it is — yet, who knows? I might actually change a few  things in the edit…). That might make it easier for me to keep writing. The other story collections I’ve plotted will be worked over, too (although “Hunters”, “The Crew”, and “Fallen Angel” all have more of a through-line already). More to do, but it’s fine.

It should be clear from this post so far that my sabbatical has been a success. I have gotten the rest I so direly needed. I have been able to think through something which I had a problem with. I have reminded myself of why I enjoy writing so much. I have gotten back to writing, too. The way ahead is clear for me — February is about editing and releasing “The Necromancer’s Notebook”. After I have prepared the release, I might do more writing on “The Misadventures of Isadora Goode”. I am much more motivated to write now (even to edit, although I don’t like editing) and I am looking forward to writing again. That hasn’t always been the case a few months ago.