Over the last few months, I’ve been struggling to add much to my novel manuscript, as every time I open the file on my laptop, my brain runs away and hides. Not surprisingly, I was getting frustrated and starting to wonder if I would ever be able to return to writing it. I even seriously considered deleting the whole thing.
Thankfully, it hasn’t come to that (yet) as I realised that due to everything that has been going on in my life since last February (and even more so since last August), my poor brain is getting overloaded. The manuscript had too much on it for my brain to process. So, how was I going to resolve this?
I remembered what my dad taught me when I was a small child. He advised breaking words I struggled with into bits and then putting them back together; that way, I would be able to conquer them a bit at a time and learn how the word was spoken. If it worked for learning words, could it work for continuing to write my novel?
Well, so far the answer is yes. I’ve stopped opening my computer file and instead returned to the beloved pen and notebook. I am writing down character and plot questions, which are leading to small chunks of my novel being written. Piece by piece, I will put this story together and complete my novel. I will transfer the handwritten bits onto the computer as I go.
Wish me luck!