I knew it was coming. It happens in all of my books, honestly; the fact that I was able to get out a whole trilogy is still completely mind-boggling to me because I cannot plot to save my life.

I have two WIP that I’ve been posting here (hopefully that’s been clear because otherwise you would be incredibly confused). Venice is still moving along; I have a couple more ideas on where to take it, but honestly not that much and it’s sitting at 21,772 words right now.

Partners in Magic however… I’ve stalled. 12,738 words and I’m stalled. Sorry guys. Honestly, if you have ideas or questions or issues I haven’t addressed I would love to hear it. Comment away, amigos!

I do wonder how other *pantsers deal with this. There are by far more pantsers than plotters in this world, and a healthy hybrid, but so many established authors crank their works out and I am beyond impressed. 

I have some plotting from Hunter and Magus on a corkboard, but it’s because I had an idea that I needed to get lined up and I couldn’t keep my days and nights straight. I was forced to physically manifest my story with index cards so that I could keep it straight. It doesn’t feel the same. It was reactionary more than proactive plotting…

Still, I have to do my nightly hour of writing. And I want to, I guess. Tonight is my 22nd evening in a row and I guarantee you that my mind is doing this because the ‘magic number’ for building a habit is supposed to be 21 days. False. That’s a myth. In recent studies, that number is actually between 66 – 254 days believe it or not, depending on a number of factors. Really not surprising.

So what do I write? I could work on Venice, sure. Pietro’s journey could continue for another evening. Path of least resistance and all that. Or I could look more into the collaboration that Ryan Southwick and I met about yesterday; I’m excited to do worldbuilding with him; he has so far been a really neat person.

It’s not even writer’s block, though. I think writers rely too heavily on that ready-made excuse. There’s a part of me that thinks, “You want to write, so WRITE!” But this is different. 

I feel like there is a lack in my experience, in my education that this WIP has revealed, and that’s a good thing. I want to write. I can’t improve if I think I already know everything (which I’ve never been guilty of believing, trust you me).

I guess I could link this blog post to my previous creative writing teacher Brian W. Smith and see if he has any classes upcoming (he definitely does; that man doesn’t rest and I’m 87% sure he has some kind of ability to mess with time, but if he does read this I’ll get in trouble for all my commas…).

All this to say: sorry about the story pause on Partners, team. I like the characters and want to explore them more, I like the magic and want to develop it. I’ll see what I can pull out of my sleeves!

April 28, 2021