It’s not writer’s block…

I’m in a writing slump.

For the past two months, I have been editing more than creating new stories. I have a few manuscripts with beta readers so I have to—gasp—wait and put those projects aside. Due to the busy full-time mom and volunteer part of my life, I haven’t had the head space or motivation to make progress on my goals for the business side of this writer gig. (My unfinished agent list and query letter draft are giving me side-eye.)

I have written some new scenes but they aren’t fantasy and I would never try to publish them. I’m just putting some words to the page by playing around a bit with some things in my head. While delays and side projects aren’t necessarily ‘bad’ things, they are definitely affecting my mood. I feel like I’m in a slump.

So I’ve been thinking about motivation and accomplishment…

I’m very task-oriented so I wrote a few smaller goals down and put dates on them so I tackle pieces and keep making measurable progress.

I did a third edit of my short story and submitted it to my critique group to get me excited that a project is moving in the right direction.

I’m letting myself dive back into my unfinished manuscript Red Hour. Sometimes I need to step away from some projects so that I can be creative elsewhere and not just edit edit edit forever.

I’m letting myself think and read more instead of forcing writing. The slump won’t last. I know the writing life I had will come back to me.