I’m a Huge Chicken—And Not the Delicious Kind

Though I guess I probably wouldn’t want to be too delicious. ;)

WARNING: This post is served up with a large dose of crazy…

So I was making chicken the other night and thinking about my WIP—always thinking about the WIP—and I started wondering why I can’t finish the dang thing. I’ve been within 5000 words of finishing for over a week (within 10,000 words for close to a month, and more than halfway done for, like, for-ev-er). It’s really pathetic, especially since I know exactly how it’s going to go. None of that pantser business holding me back.

The ending is all mapped out, and I’m excited about it, but every time I sit down to write, I read through the last few paragraphs, raring to go, and then I just sit there, staring. And then my mind wanders and I click over to my email and Facebook and my Google Reader… You can see where this is going, right? So I thought maybe it was just distractions holding me back—that pesky procrastination. But as I thought about it more, I realized it’s just that I’m a big chicken.

I can’t believe I’m admitting this, because it’s so stupid, but the real reason I can’t finish my story is because I’m scared. Scared it won’t be good enough. Scared the ending is going to suck. Scared the last two years—writing it, revising it, scrapping the whole thing, and rewriting it from scratch—have all been a waste of time. Scared I'm just deluding myself that I can write at all.

Yes, I realize this is just my neurotic writer self shining through and I’m over-thinking the whole situation, but that doesn’t change anything. I’m still a huge chicken.

What is wrong with me!? Wait. Don’t answer that. ;)

Seriously though, I’m hoping that by getting it out of my head and sending it out into the ether, I’ll be able to let the stupid-ness go and just finish the dumb thing.

That was all. Thanks for listening to me whine.

So, what about all of you? Do you find that fear holds you back sometimes?

Bad Blogger

Today is The Great Blogging Experiment, and I have no post. I know I signed up to participate, and I had every intention of doing so, but it's been a long week and a long day, and I just don't have the energy or the brain power to write something coherent today. Sorry!

Be sure to head over to Elana Johnson's blog to check out the other entries. :)

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Fabulous News!

My super awesome friend and crit buddy, Tere Kirkland, just signed with Rosemary Stimola! Go give her a big congrats and follow her blog if you're not already.

Congrats again, Tere!

Win a Crit From an Agent

Elle Strauss is having an awesome first line contest with a chance to win a 25-page crit from literary agent Natalie Fischer. Runner up will win a 15-page crit. I'm not sure when it closes, but it'll be soon. Be sure to check it out! :)

This contest is now closed.

Blog Chain: How Did I Get Here?

Blog chain time again! This one was started by Margie. She asked:

How did you come to write your YA genre (e.g. contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it’s a 2 parter), if you weren’t writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?

My current project, Embrol, is YA SciFi, though I don't think is falls squarely under that genre. And it's kind of a superhero novel, but it doesn't fall squarely under that either. The idea behind it has been brewing for as long as I can remember--even before I started writing seriously two years ago.

Growing up, I liked to imagine what I'd put in a world if I could create my own. I always thought at least some of the people should have superpowers, and I would go over and over in my head all the problems that might arise from that. And though I don't have any other completed novels, everything else I've started has ended up with the MC or the main secondary character having some kind of extra ability, even if I didn't start with that intention. I guess I just like my characters to be something more than human. 

And of course, there's always romance in there, no matter what I'm working on. :)

If I were to change genres, I'd really love to try horror, though that one really scares me. And not because it's horror. ;) I just think it would be a real challenge to write something that would scare someone else. Be fun to try though.

What about you? What drew you to your preferred genre? Is there anything else you'd like to try?

Be sure to check out Shaun's awesome post from yesterday, and I'm sure Cole will have some great stuff to share with us tomorrow. :)