Sometimes I do my best thinking in that short span of time between my brain waking from a deep sleep and the rest of my body figuring out that I'm actually awake. I've spent the better part of the last month trying to figure out what to do with this book (the one I'm writing, that is), and this morning I woke up thinking it shouldn't be this difficult. Hard, yes. As HelenKay Dimon said in the post I referenced on Thursday, writing is hard. Being a writer takes work. But JT is forever saying that writer's block is merely your story's way of telling you something isn't right (yes, that's paraphrased, because she says it much better). So I've realized in my minor epiphany that what's wrong with this book is that I'm trying too hard to fix it when I'm not sure what the problem is.
I've done this before, of course. My previous manuscripts have all had one tiny little thing wrong with them that I couldn't see until well after the book was written but still not working. Once I figured out what that tiny little thing was, I was able to fix it, and now I have two pretty decent manuscripts completed. I discovered this morning that I'm at that point now, the point where the blinders I wear when I write have obscured the bigger picture so that I can't see the problem.
So my goal is to pull the blinders off, to look at the manuscript from an objective standpoint, and to find that missing element that when screwed in place will make this machine work like it's supposed to.
The to-do list is longer than my arm, but my CD player, John Williams, a few cats and one miniature beagle are here to keep me company, and with this fresh perspective I'm pretty sure I can get something accomplished today.
Wish me luck.
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