The same old story.

I’ve been having a terrible time recently, trying to talk myself into writing.

Well, writing this particular story. Writing itself isn’t really a problem. I just feel like I’m spinning my wheels with this story, and, since I don’t really have anything else to work on right now, writing in general is a bit of a challenge.

None of this is new, of course. I’ve hit this point with a lot of stories lately—I get so far, and I start to lose interest. The story isn’t moving quite the way I hoped, or I’ve got a better idea, or I’m too hung up on little details to focus on the actual plot. Or I pick up an older unfinished story, spend an hour or so reading it, and get depressed because, in retrospect, it feels like a better, tighter story than the one I’m currently working on. (Which I started because it seemed like a fairly straightforward little story, no more than a novella, and I was feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of plotlines in the earlier story.)

I can’t start something new right now. I don’t want to have too many projects up in the air when Script Frenzy rolls around. I can’t go back to that older story because I still have no idea what’s going on with those characters, and I think two storylines need to be cut entirely. (That said, I think I do need to explore the themes in that story. Whether I revise what I have and continue that piece, or start something completely new—I had a similar-but-very-different story idea come to mind over the weekend—there’s a story there that needs to be told.) And I can’t not write, because I don’t want to be completely overwhelmed when April rolls around.

So. For the rest of the month, I’m going to keep working on this story, no matter how much I want to move on to something else. When I’m not actively writing, I’m going to work out a proper outline for Script Frenzy. Try to, anyway—I tend to resist outlining, and I’m never entirely sure why. But I really think it’ll help tighten up my stories… it can’t hurt, anyway. (Unless I let myself get too caught up in the outline. It’s caught me up before, which is probably at least part of the reason I have a hard time convincing myself it’ll work.)

Then, during April, I’m going to try outlining one of the other story ideas I’ve been playing with. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to jump into the actual writing as soon as I finish my screenplay.