Sometimes, It just doesn't flow.

Hey all, Adrianne here. I have five novels published. Three are stand alones and two are part of a series. I am currently working on the final book in that series.

Or shall I say, I should be working on it.

I have been writing THE UPRISING for going on five months now. Aside from my first novel, LIFE ON LOAN, no book has taken me more than two months to write the first draft. I'm not even close to being done. I *might* be half way. Maybe.

So what's the problem? I have an outline. I know where the story is supposed to go and I know how I want the pieces to connect. I love my story and I love my characters. So why do they fight me so? It could be the fact that this is the final book in the series and I want it to be JUST RIGHT. I want THE UPRISING to answer all the questions that The Mackenzie Duncan Series has introduced. I want my readers to love it as much as the first two books. I want to leave the series knowing I gave it everything I had and that it is the perfect conclusion to this story. I am so worried that it won't be good enough that I can't even get words on the page without second guessing every little letter. I am filled with doubt in my story, in my characters, in myself.

So what do I do? Do I push through and force it? Do I worry about every word that hits the page? I had thought that I had to finish Mackenzie before even considering writing anything else. I mean, I am already so far behind on my schedule, writing something else would just push that even farther behind.

But no matter what I am writing, I always have ideas brewing for future books. There is this one, I shall call it the Sekret project for now, that wouldn't leave me alone. Not a ton of details to it yet, just a basic idea, but I couldn't ignore it. So I sat down and said, I will write out the little blurb that's in my head and go right back to Mackenzie. So I opened Word and started writing. That little blurb turned into an prologue. In five minutes.

Holy crap, my flow was back. The words flew from my fingertips like they haven't in months. The story played out before my eyes and made me smile while writing again instead of constantly scrutinizing everything. I haven't even gone back to edit it. I just hit save and moved on.
It felt so good to write. And I got a new idea for Mackenzie. So I guess what I am saying is, if it doesn't flow, write was does and come back. A little mental vacation from one story may actually help. It did for me :D