{"id":2244,"date":"2023-04-02T18:53:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T18:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=2244"},"modified":"2023-04-02T18:53:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T18:53:08","slug":"getting-back-to-it-tips-for-restarting-a-writing-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=2244","title":{"rendered":"Getting Back to It: Tips for Restarting a Writing Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>How do you get back to writing after a long break? I\u2019ve had to take a break from the blog and my current work in progress because I had two sets of edits that came in and I had to attend to those edits. It\u2019s going to be at least another three weeks before I can get back to it. This is not the first time I\u2019ve had to take long breaks in working on projects because of project conflicts, family events, life, events, or my own state of mind. I have developed a system for how to get back to where you were when you\u2019ve had to put a story aside for a while.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s hard to pick up the threads of your story when you are a pantser or a discovery draft writer.\u00a0 <\/span>The techniques work well for people who don\u2019t work from a detailed outline because sometimes you\u2019ll be writing along and you have taken a detour. Your characters have gone off script, and suddenly you\u2019re not sure where your story is going and you need to get back to the initial thread. These techniques are handy for those times when brain fog is dense and you don\u2019t even know where you\u00a0<\/span>are in the story or what you\u2019re doing and\u00a0<\/span>you feel lost in your own manuscript.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>When you\u2019ve wandered into the weeds one of the first things things you can do when you find yourself in that situation or when you to come back to some thing after having not written or worked on it for for weeks or months is to read through your pre-writing, and by that I mean story notes, character worksheets, notebook scribbles, etc, that you created before you started your project.
\nThen\u00a0<\/span>read through what you\u2019ve written so far and create a reverse outline. A reverse outline is based on what you\u2019ve written. It offers an opportunity to compare the scenes you\u2019ve\u00a0<\/span>written with your initial plan.<\/p>\n

It also serves as a reminder of what you\u2019ve already accomplished. If you\u2019ve just started something, and you\u2019ve only written a chapter or two just read those couple of chapters.\u00a0Some people suggest simply <\/span>\u00a0reading the previous chapter or the previous couple of pages of your manuscript. This doesn\u2019t work for me because I don\u2019t work from detailed outline. I work from a scene list and if you also work that way a reverse outline will to show you where you\u2019ve \u00a0gone off script.
\n<\/span>The other thing you can do, if you feel overwhelmed, or if you don\u2019t want to invest the time reverse outlining takes is to just start writing.\u00a0 <\/span>Get yourself geared up to sit down at your desk, open your document or your notebook or legal pad or\u00a0 <\/span>however you write and just start writing again.
\nEmbrace the attitude that you can fix any problems in revisions. It does work, but you should plan on taking a bit more time in revisions to make sure you\u2019ve fix any plot holes and that your story structure is sound. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not all writing breaks are bad, sometimes If you need to take a break from writing because you\u2019ve written yourself into a corner or your bored with your story or you need to take a mental health break. You\u2019ll be less stressed about not writing if you know there are ways to find your way back to the story.\u00a0 <\/span>Trust yourself to get back to work.
\nSometimes<\/span>\u00a0people take breaks is because of what I call shiny new idea syndrome. Shiny new idea syndrome occurs most often when you get to the hard part of the manuscript and you\u2019re like \u201coh I can\u2019t do this anymore. I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going. I\u2019m in the soggy middle and why the f$@k did I ever start this book? I hate it.\u201d
\nSo you put your manuscript aside and you start working on the next shiny thing. The hard truth about this is that the next shiny thing will also get to a hard, sticky part.\u00a0 My recommendation to you is if you stopped writing something because it became hard to write, is to put it aside for a while.\u00a0\u00a0Take\u00a0that break. Use it to refuel yourself, to fill your creative well so you can get your brain and your emotions in a place where you can work.
\nBut for the love of all that is good do not start something new while on your break if you already have a pile of unfinished manuscripts. It\u2019s fine to make notes or sketch some ideas down. Collect your ideas in a next shiny thing notebook if you\u2019ve got one of those. Or a document, or whatever way your have to keep track of ideas. I keep a\u00a0notebook next to my computer so I can write all those ideas down as the bubble up.<\/p>\n

Those ideas call to me like sirens, and in order to keep myself from crashing on the rocks of unfinished works, I promise myself that I will start the new shiny thing that once I am finished my current project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My best advice is to if you can help it at all is to to not\u00a0 <\/span>quit in the middle of a project. To be clear, a pause to attend to other writing business is not the same as abandoning a project.\u00a0 <\/span>Another hard truth is nothing ever gets easier as you write.\u00a0 <\/span>In\u00a0 <\/span>fact, as you get towards the end of the story, trying to tie all the loose threads together and create a satisfying conclusion it is sometimes is exhausting.
\n<\/span>Writing\u00a0 <\/span>is not easy.\u00a0<\/span>Giving people access your imaginary friends and their world, exposing your imagination can be excruciating.\u00a0 <\/span>More so if\u00a0 <\/span>you\u2019re writing a difficult scene or a difficult topic or when you\u2019re writing middle the of the story arc when you\u2019re torturing your characters so they apprentice their happy ending.<\/p>\n

All of that can be really hard to write, but don\u2019t quit.\u00a0<\/span>Take a break, and when you come back to your project, try these techniques to\u00a0 <\/span>get back to where you were. Or just start again and that\u2019s fine too.<\/p>\n

A final word about why folks quit on their manuscripts. Folks quit all the time because they give up, decide writing is \u00a0not worth the struggle. And then they beat themselves up about their decision.
\n<\/span>\u00a0I can\u2019t tell you if it\u2019s worth it or not for you.\u00a0I\u00a0know for me, at this point in time even with the advent and rise of all the AI chat programs that will write stories for you and people bragging that they wrote books with it, and all the stress that the discussion has generated, nothing\u00a0\u00a0is ever going to beat a homegrown honest to goodness human creation, because no matter how well we teach the machines they will never truly be us.
\n<\/span>Regurgitated\u00a0<\/span>rehashed content is not the same as original human stories.\u00a0 <\/span>People will tell you there are no new stories. And that may be true but no one else out there can tell a story the way that you can tell a story.\u00a0 <\/span>So please don\u2019t quit for good.\u00a0 <\/span>Give yourself a break if you need one.\u00a0 <\/span>Be kind to yourself and others always.
\nWhen you go to get back to your project\u00a0 <\/span>either jump right back into it and worry about fixing it later, or wade in slowly with a reverse outline.\u00a0 <\/span>Be brave. Have confidence \u00a0you actually can finish your writing project.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I believe in you. Until next time keep writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you get back to writing after a long break? I\u2019ve had to take a break from the blog and my current work in progress because I had two sets of edits that came in and I had to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,455,318,9,453],"tags":[26,327,365,54,49,145,58,50],"class_list":["post-2244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brenda-murphy-author","category-ninestar-press-author-brenda-murphy","category-writing-advice","category-writing-tips","category-writing-while-distracted-brenda-murphy","tag-addadhd-and-writing","tag-brenda-murphy-author","tag-brenda-murphy-author-ninestarpress","tag-craft-of-writing","tag-tips-for-writing","tag-writing","tag-writing-advice","tag-writing-with-adhd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}