Block of wood, apple, and e-readers

Not Blocked, Just Lazy

Despite the block of wood in the photo, I can’t say writer’s block is why I’m not cranking out the prose right now.

I just don’t feel like writing.

There are so many books to read…

Waterloo Sunset cover image
The Bright Black Sea cover image
A Trail if by Sea cover image
From Unseen Fire cover image
The Basement
Tallis Steelyard: A Fear of Heights cover image
Infamy: A Journal of our Darkest Year cover image
What Happened in Vienna Jack? cover image
  • Waterloo Sunset (Book 4 in Sanctuary Series) / PJ O’Brien
  • The Bright Black Sea / C Litka
  • A Trail if by Sea / Laura Seabury Smith
  • From Unseen Fire (Book 1 of the Aven Cycle) / Cass Morris
  • The Basement: A Novella by Mark Paxson
  • Tallis Steelyard: A Fear of Heights by Jim Webster
  • Infamy: A Journal of Our Darkest Year, 2020 / Kevin Brennan
  • What Happened in Vienna, Jack? / Daniel Kemp

And it looks like Spring has been postponed.

Okay, this photo is from February 25, 2011. But things are similar today. (Same daffodil too!)

What about you, fellow writers—and readers? Are you writing, thinking about writing, reading, or doing other things altogether?

66 comments

  1. Constant writing because a writer feels they have to I would suggest can be self-defeating and corrosive.
    A constant writing scenario is understandable for the professional writer working on a series, locked in a ‘contractual’ situation, with a firm large readership and a formula to fall back on. Afterall, aside job their art & craft it is their job.
    The Indy writer works in a different land; when it comes to financial reward and public recognition, it’s a hard-scrabble place and none who have resided there live on the dream of those happening. Indy writers will rely on the rains of inspiration, ideas and the curiosity of ‘where’ this will go’; coupled with the urge, which at times can be seasonal, to write.
    Small wonder then, there will be times when we literally or allegorically puff out our cheeks, shrug a bit at our notebooks or ideas-in the head and go to tend to ‘other chores’ which at the time seem more pressing or rewarding.
    After I tied up my trilogy, near about 18 months ago, there have been six (I think) attempts to get something going; all of which have withered. One day, though.
    Doesn’t seem odd to me, just happened- I’ve still got the Blog Challenge. That’s my plot of ‘hard scrabble’
    So for all of us in our sparse times. Read, listen, watch, whatever. At some stage the rains will fall on the seeds.
    Or if you care to be cosmological, the stellar tide will start to coalescing process.
    Whichever the plot, narrative and words will start to flow. Then joy of joys, the characters will start to tell you where you are going wrong- then you know there will be a book at the end of it.

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    1. Never force it, and that goes for that first blank page or the work in progress. A glance at my back list would have most people wondering how I managed to write all this stuff. Well, copious amounts of alcohol during a dark time in my life lubricated my writing was partly to blame for those books, not that I’d recommend such a lifestyle. With my drinking more or less under control now, I’m doing very little writing but concentrating on painting instead.
      I have dipped a toe into a new writing project, against my own better judgement, and have three chapters written and a few characters coming to life. The story is fermenting at the moment and I have no urgency to push it along. The story will tell me if and when it’s ready. That’s when I’ll roll up my sleeves and enter the zone.

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      1. Hi Gary
        I glad to read you navigated your way through. I know a few who’ve turned to painting away from other pursuits. So good for you.
        Having certain issues with colour recognition, I leave painting mostly aside, unless it’s SF or Fantasy models…when …hey who cares? 😀

        Sometimes The writing Muse (well one of them will call. If the characters are coming to life that sounds promising and as you say. When it is good and ready and not before, the story will call to you.

        Best wishes with all your projects.
        Roger

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        1. I was due to exhibit my paintings at a local cafe which used to support local artists, but sadly it closed a couple of months ago. We are hopeful to find an alternative gig for this summer.

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    2. Thanks for this reminder of how the writing process works, Roger. Anxiety about birds and plants in our recent cold weather has put writing on hold, but I know I’ll get back to it. And reading is always good; all those words will slosh around in the brain and add to the writing eventually!

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  2. Hi Audrey, Each week, about now…I write one or two columns for the Costa Blanca Newspaper, here in Spain (near Torrevieja), as I have done for the last seven years, without pay! As it’s on behalf of my writing group: Writers’ Ink, I’m happy to do so, but sometimes…flag as to the originality of content! Of course, the weight of knowledge about the subject matters: reading and writing, is inexhausible, but I don’t want to repeat myself too often or bore the pants off my readers! The trouble is – just like people’s laziness with writing book reviews, they don ‘t exactly rush to reply or comment on letters/articles in the newspaper either… (one consolation recently, someone tried to ‘head-hunt’ me to write for another writing group and I’ve made a few new on-line friends. Who needs money! Ha ha.

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  3. First, the comment above is from me not anonymous! I’m having to sign in to reply though I’ve been following Audrey’s blog forever! I’m just too tired to write at the moment, by the time I’ve cleared my inbox, replied to messages, socialized with all the returnees to Spain, cleaning, washing and planning next trip along with fighting fires that crop up daily I’m exhausted.

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  5. I’m working sporadically on revising The Man Who Found Birds series, v.9 (The Eagles Have Landed). Not particularly pleased with it, but I will probably publish it before too long. Then I would like to write one more volume, called The Final Flight, that takes Robbie Nikalishin up to the time of his death. Yes, I’m skipping the middle part of his life, when he captains the first ship to fly to the Bird Planet. I’m getting too old to care, frankly (I’ll be 83 in June). I’ve always said that if writing stopped being fun, I would quit. I think that time has about come.

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  6. I haven’t been writing much lately either for two reasons. First, I’m doing a lot of stuff to get ready for the art festival I’ll have a booth at in April. Second, the #1 thing on my writing list is rewriting what I’ve done on The Jump from 1st person to 3rd person and I’m struggling with the motivation to sit down and do it. I know it’s a good idea and will make for a better story, but it’s just so tedious.

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    1. If I have some sort of personally challenging public event coming up (introvert, remember?), my writing self curls up and goes into hibernation.
      Are you sure that 1st to 3rd change will improve the work? If you’re finding it tedious, that’s concerning.

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  8. It seems that you’re not alone, Audrey. While I still put in an hour or so every day writing, it’s mostly blog posts. However, I do have my 2023 novel ready to go, so I have 18 months to write my 2024 novel, if I feel like it, so I’m comfortable not writing fiction, even though winter is the perfect time to write novels around here, as it’s cold and snowy outside so there a few distractions. I am reading, however, five books this month, which is something I generally don’t like to do when I have my own story in my head.

    Hope you enjoy The Bright Black Sea. It is very long, but episodic, so it can be read in parts. (I started writing it back when KU was paying per “book” rather than per page, so it was supposed to be a serial.)

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    1. My intention is to write a bunch of shorter pieces hoping some of them clump together into something more substantial. Those that don’t will be separate works. Either way, the idea is to experiment, rather than write toward a known ending, as I’ve done with my novels. That makes it hard to do a sustained effort, though. Any distraction will do. 🙂
      I actually like long books, so I’m sure I’ll be happy to live with The Bright Black Sea when I get there.

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  12. Oddly, I’m just getting back to writing my 3rd book. I have been pretty stagnant since the fall. Maybe the sun is encouraging me. I have changed my writing time, however – I always wrote early in the morning. Now, It’s late afternoon. Enjoy the sun and spring…soon to come!

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    1. This winter has been a long one. First snow happened in November. Then another dump just before Christmas, and now a cold snap plus a bit of snow. Enough, already!
      I’ve changed up my writing times too. Used to be evenings, now it’s any good hour or two between noon and 4 pm.

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  15. I’m spent a small portion of my day editing and promoting, but I’m preparing for a major move this spring, so each day requires more sorting, recycling, and other pre-move preparation. Lots of thinking and planning involved.

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  16. Pingback: Not Blocked, Just Lazy – sheikhacademy.com

  18. I just had to smile. If like me you have been filling up the ‘shelves’ with ebooks for a few years, you’ll probably know all about Draft2Digital and Smashwords (now one and the same).
    D2D sent me an email today telling me it’s time to fill in those tax forms. Because I’m British, I don’t pay the USA 30% tax on my book sales if I fill in the forms. This time around I think I’ll pass. The £90 I’ve amassed this last year won’t even cover my beer money. Dunno about you but I’ll pass this time around.

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  20. It’s been an itch I’ve done my best to ignore. Another damn book to write! As D2D shovels my titles into palace marketplace where they will probably die a neglected existence, the familiar compulsion to write again entices me. I ‘see’ the story, or at least the beginnings of one. I’ve never started a book knowing where the path will lead me. But chapter four where I describe the end of the world, had me twirling my grey beard with that gut churning possibility that here was actually, possibly a new journey. So I chickened out and flicked the chapters to my ‘tell it like it is, mate’ Australian writer pal to hopefully tell me it was a load of predictable tosh so I can forget all about it. But if it’s bad news and she likes it, I suppose I have no choice but to find a way to rescue the ship now lost somewhere in the galaxy with two and a half thousand humans in suspended hibernation and try to find them a new home. Or maybe I’ll not bother.

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    1. That’s the great thing about being indie, Gary. You write what you like, when you like. And if you don’t want to write, there’s no pressure (except the internal kind). 🙂

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  21. Damn! Bad news from My writer friend Julie. She really likes the story so far and insists I write the book. I did leave things on a knife edge, but already knocked out a couple of new chapters. As I’m snowed in (Wales) I’m going nowhere and I have plenty of beer, so no excuses. This evening I’ll go into the zone and let the story take me along. I let the story dictate to me not the other way round.

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  22. D2D paperbacks.
    Like me, you probably have had the carrier pigeon drop off the message about D2D taking the stress out of paperback conversions. I converted a handful of mine through createspace before and after the Amazon takeover. And yes, occasionally the end results could be iffy. I did mine simply because a few people I knew preferred ‘proper’ books to their Kindle alternatives, my late mother being one such reader. I’ve not had time to check it out yet, but I will. Dusty Miller 1 has had another tidy up with a couple of early years chapters added, so I might trial that one. All good fun.

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  23. I’ll be testing the print on demand process with D2D in the near future. All of my ebooks are via D2D with a few freebies with smashwords for old times sake. Two of the books I have in mind are already available through Amazon / createspace as paperbacks so I’m still unsure about what doing POD with D2D on the same books will do or indeed if this is doable. These two titles have had a rewrite and updating since first going POD.
    I have asked the question and I’m awaiting an answer. That said, we will be able to purchase our own paperbacks at cost + delivery, not paying ourselves royalties. This matches Amazon. I think that knowing how D2D operates, the most significant difference will be ease of conversion from our ebooks, so I look forward to trying it out.
    I intend to approach the small bookshop in my little town and also the local library to see if they would be interested in holding a few of my paperbacks which I will buy for them at my own cost. I see this as an inexpensive way to promote my books.
    I’ll let you know the warts and all of this journey for anyone interested in dipping their toes into a similar journey.

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    1. Formatting a Word doc for print publishing is a challenge. I’d be interested in how well D2D’s ebook-to-print book thing goes.
      Most libraries do accept gift books. Good luck with your efforts!

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  24. Okay. It took less than ten minutes to turn my ebook, Dusty Miller 1 into a print version. I used my existing ebook layout / format / cover and it all went through okay. It’s quite a hefty book so weighs in at an eye watering $14.99 meaning nobody will probably pick it up. But that’s not what was about for me anyway. The only thing I didn’t sort out was the distribution but I’ll worry about that later. I’ll order a few copies when I’ve had a word with a couple of local libraries and bookshops then I’ll donate a few copies when the funds are available.
    So, basically, if you have an ebook with D2D, it isn’t hard to sort out paperbacks.

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  25. Thirteen years as an Indie, and I still learn stuff about it all the time. I expressed my concern to D2D about Amazon already having the same book as an earlier version paperback with its own ISBN and as the new D2D paperback of the same title has a new ISBN, is there a conflict when the D2D version is added to the Amazon listing? D2D came back and assured me it is ok to have the two versions on Amazon with the two ISBN’s so I don’t have to worry about delisting the Zon book. Good to know.
    I have to tweak the metadata on the new version for it to be available on all outlets. Then it will be ready to launch on May 9th, my 70th birthday.
    Anyone considering this journey, go for it and good luck.

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