Writing Update: Quiet Screaming.... (Patreon)

So... I know I have to do a monthly writing update soon. I promise I'll get to that at some point, though really, I could sum it up as - I'm writing a lot, Dungeon Brawler 3 is nearly halfway done, Celestial Cataclysms 2 is 1/4 done and System Apocalypse: Liberty 2 is with the copy editors. We're mostly gearing up to promo the A Thousand Li: the First Step re-release and realised we forgot to tell all of you that all 3 books have exclusive short stories in it. So please pre-order / buy / get a copy via the library.

That's... about it.

Alright, that out of the way, let's talk about the stuff I'm putting behind the pay wall - the reason I'm incredibly frustrated today.

I went to the Northern Hearts writers retreat last weekend. Had a great time, did a talk about productivity, hung out and listened to a bunch of roundtables, chatted with writers. Realised I should review what I'm doing...

See, one of the things I did (and shouldn't be doing) was I started a new series. I know, I know. It was meant to be a 'fun, on the side, don't worry about writing it and we'll release when I'm ready to in a few years' kind of thing.

Except, of course, it got away from me, ended up at 30k already and I realised, I should probably think about what I'm doing here...

Especially since I need to make sure I get all the other projects I'm doing gets finished.

So... the series (FYI, a LitRPG reincarnation into the past one - not Timeloop because this is a single reincarnation) needed an ending. And I started poking at the brain and realised, I had no end game. I was having so much fun with the system and the ideas, but no clue how to finish the series.

No idea how many books it would last (probably a LOT) or when it had to end. Or what the ending or big bad guys or why everything was happening.

Yup, you guessed it. I shelved it.

Which was fine.

I also was thinking I needed to start working on the next work for my publisher (Ace Books) for giving them end of the year / middle of next year. See what they thought of it. Which was great.

I even have the idea. I know EXACTLY what to write. A space fantasy murder mystery based off Chinese magistrates/judges. The entire system is sooo cool, I would have to do some more research but not an issue, I have lots of books and if it worked, I could write a bunch of standalone works, that all linked.

Perfect!

I even have the plot (roughly) outlined in my head.

So I sit down to start writing. I get the prologue (I hate them, but this might work for the framing and what not, and hey, let's try something new) out of the way. Then I'm onto the first chapter.

And I write the first few paragraphs.

It doesn't work.

I start again.

It doesn't work.

I start again.

It doesn't work.

I start again... get maybe about 400 words in, and realise it's STILL a struggle.

I now have like... 2.2k words, and maybe a 1/4 of a chapter start.

It just isn't working. Something is blocking me, because most first chapters are smooth. Like silk.

So here I am, staring at a bunch of work I started, having to discard it all because it's not working.

I guess this is what they call writers block, even though I'm working on another four other projects (Dungeon Brawler, Celestial Cataclysms, Hidden Dishes and Climbing the Ranks). Maybe I just need to finish one of those and call it....

Either way. This is me just giving you all a glimpse of life as a writer.

Sometimes, it's just a lot of discarded words and ideas.