After more than a year of the pandemic, one would think I should have an entire arsenal of techniques to work through disruptions to my writing. I know I thought so until I turned the calendar to July. Although my schedule is no longer attached to a school year, the mere fact that it is officially summer has thrown a monkey wrench into what passed as my writing schedule. It isn’t so much that I’ve stopped writing but that I’m worried I will stop writing.
The good news is I’ve realized that the root of my problem is I am still thinking in terms of summer vacation – my summer vacations of childhood when I had no obligations. Not that I have huge obligations now, but I belong to two critique groups, and they hold me accountable. Whether I write every day or pull an all-nighter the day before my submission is due, my dear friends expect me to turn in something that they can critique.
The question now becomes not how will I write, but which of the many incentives I’ve used in the past will be the most useful. Some days, I’m certain I will have to bribe myself to get something on the page. Other days, perhaps I can adapt Poirot’s order and method to get me started by reading through one, two, or even three past submissions until I remember what it is I want to say. Maybe I’ll embrace the disruption to examine the plot holes I’ve managed to create and figure out how to plug them. If I’m very fortunate, I might devise a new way to keep my fingers on the keyboard long enough to write at least one paragraph that I’ll keep.