Questions Writers Ask

It's time for another writing checkup.  At the beginning of the year I made some resolutions about writing much more this year and even committed myself to a weekly word count.

As I look over the work I've done in this year, I see that my word count has increased dramatically.  I've posted much more often on this blog; I've written  more articles for ChristianWeek, a news magazine I have a contract with; I've done some short stories, a personal essay, even a poem or two.  So, all-in-all, I think I'm meeting my word count. 

And all this writing has given me ideas, sometimes (okay, most of the time) more than I can handle.  I'm looking at ways to syndicate my mental health articles and I even think I might want to follow up on that by compiling them into a book.  That's actually an idea offered to me by my daughter, Jenn, five years ago shortly after I first began writing the column.

And now, it's confession time.  Yes, I've written many more words in 2013 and I'm pleased about that.  But, I had also committed to finishing the first draft of that novel I've had underway for a couple of years at least.  Of all the words I wrote, sadly only one chapter's worth were for the novel.  I have recorded lots of ideas for directions it could take in my writing journals and sometimes I think I'm overwhelming myself with too many possibilities. 

Come January, when it's "resolution time" again, I'm going to have to give this novel some serious thought.  Maybe I need to figure out why I'm avoiding it?  Have I lost faith in it?  Do I need to effect some significant changes in it to make it as compelling as it felt when I began?

Or maybe I have too many projects going at once ... and why does the latest project always seem so much more interesting than the one I need to finish?  Do I have enough time to devote to all these ideas, given that I have a fairly demanding job for three days a week?  

What I know for sure is that I don't want to put off pursuing my writing dreams any longer.  I did that for far too long already.  And, for me, that has to be the starting point for answering the questions that writers ask.