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My first book is mostly done. It needs feedback from the beta readers, editing, and a book cover. Then I can publish it. Exciting! Now I am on to the second book, in what I want to make a series using the same characters. I already have part of an ending to the series written, but to get there will take several more books. The first book began as a short story that just kept growing, until a big flash of inspiration hit me at work, and I jotted down ideas for most of the chapters in my notebook. With my outline, I pushed out over 60k words in about a month. So far, the second book has not been that easy to write. I have five chapters written that I am mostly okay with, but the going is much slower, and the wild sparks of ideas I received last time have not happened, yet. I hope they do, but either way I plan to continue to push forward with this book. Here is to hoping I can recapture the magic.

What a relief! It had been several weeks without being able to continue my second book. Without inspiration for it, I decided yesterday to work on a different story. Then today, instead of working on the story I began yesterday, I was inspired to continue my second book. Something must have come unstuck. It was not the pure inspiration where I can sit for most of the day and feel like I am channeling the work, but it was close to that. Even though it was a greater struggle than when I am firing on all cylinders, I think I still managed to get at least 5K words in. That is a successful day in my book. Pun intended.

I have listened to 'The War of Art,' by James Pressfield several times. It is a wonderful book for aspiring and established creatives. He talks about how the professional will dedicate a block of time daily to their art. I would like to do that, but my writing creativity seems to come in sporadic bursts, rather than being able to call upon it daily. I enjoy my 8+ hour marathons of writing, when it happens organically. Honestly, during those times I feel more like I am channeling the story, than creating it out of my own mind. When I sit down with a block of time, and try to force my writing, more often that not, my mind goes blank. I suppose we are all different. I just do not want to be doing myself a disservice waiting around for inspiration to strike. Maybe I should be typing whatever daily, if only for the practice. But somehow that feels like a waste. It is truly a conundrum to me.