Just a few weeks ago, I opined that I never had trouble dashing off my targeted writing volume for the day.
I should have knocked on wood after making the comment, as I've been more or less stuck in neutral for the past couple of weeks, with no respite on the horizon.
I think the root of my poor writing productivity is my life again becoming complicated. I've gotten involved in a business venture, and while it doesn't require full time attention (currently at two days a week, and I hope to eventually reduce that to one day), it is occupying a lot of mental bandwidth. Add to that the preparations for the first of two adoption trips to Ethiopia -- yes, we are adopting another child from Ethiopia, this time a boy named Feyissa Thomas Spears -- and you have the prescription for a lot of distraction.
But there might be some issues with the novel as well. In most of my previous work, I've had patches where the story seems to stall. I'll occassionally feel like I don't really like the characters, or the plot is dragging. I think this is pretty common for authors of novels, and in the past I've just blown through the rough spots, figuring I'll correct them in later revisions. To my credit, when I read the draft later, after a period of fermentation, I usually find it was better than I thought at the time I was writing it, thus vidicating my methodology.
This time, the feel is worse. It might be caused by my doing a poorer job on this first draft. Or perhaps it's caused by the more complex storyline. Maybe it's the fact that production is dragging, leaving me hanging with the feeling for a longer time. Or perhaps it's my distraction by my other big non-writing projects.
Whatever the reason, I'm not in a good place right now, and hope to pull myself out shortly.
