I’m technically back in novel-writing/revising mode again, as mentioned in my last post. My versioning system is set up, my Scribophile critiques are lined up, and I’ve got LibreOffice up to date and ready to go.
The only thing not ready is my brain. (That, and the new laptop—it’s still being built.) So what’s the deal?
You’d think it would be as easy as shifting gears on a car. Push the clutch pedal, move the gearshift from music to novel writing, and get going, right? Nope. It doesn’t work that way, at least not for me. It’s also not a right brain / left brain problem, especially considering that music writing involves both hemispheres.
If I had to continue the automotive theme, I would compare the transition process to a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). There are no specific mental gears involved. The feeling is like going from one end of the transmission’s range to the other—it takes a while, you’ve got a lot of mixing of modes going on in between, and it’s very hard to sort out which impulse goes to what task. The opposite is also true. My shift from working on Tapper to working on music was neither easy nor instant.
It’s not a fun process, and there’s a lot of temptation to procrastinate (especially considering that I’m waiting for a new writing computer (with a new version of Windows) to arrive). Right now, I’m fighting that by easing myself back into the Scribophile community. I’m trying to spend more time reading and making posts in the forums. I’m also rebooting my writing support network by getting back in touch with old critique partners and online writing friends, again using Scribophile to reconnect. It’s going to take a while, but I don’t know of any other way to do it. The end result is worth it, though.
If you’ve got any suggestions, please share them! Use the Contact page and let me know how you handle the transition. I’ll share the best of the suggestions in my next post. Thank you for reading!