Sometimes you have to say no. Sometimes we get so used to meeting deadlines and saying yes to others, that we forget to feed our own creative energy. We constantly do what needs to be done instead of what we want to do. We meet our obligations but we must also write what WE want to write and say the things WE want to say.
Is there a project you keep putting aside, but you keep saying you'll get back to it later when you have time?
How about those unfinished novels or stories tucked away in the drawer that you keep promising you'll finish?
What about that great idea that just needs some attention in order to move forward?
You'd like to do all these things, but then something else comes along, or someone else makes a request and you feel obligated to do that instead.
Sometimes we need to make an obligation to ourselves.
We need to feed our souls by pursuing that dream we have always carried; we need to finish that book that started with such great promise but has gotten bogged down, either by character problems or lack of enthusiasm.
For many years I worked in television news where deadlines were a daily issue--sometimes a minute by minute issue. Seconds counted when it came to getting a news story on the air or getting the newscast ended on time. When network programs followed your newscast you had no choice but to make certain you met the time deadline or stories weren't going to get aired and your newscaster were going to be cut off in mid sentence.
Deadlines matter.
No editor wants to work with a writer who keeps promising something that never appears. Editors have deadlines of their own to meet so writers need to be respectful of that. As a news producer I always expected reporters to meet their time constraints and depended on them to do it or again, my program was going to run long. As writers, that's the sort of obligation we have toward our editors. we need to give them the best product in the time we're allowed to write and we need to see that the story we write is the best we can do.
And sometimes that means saying no. We don't get that extra interview or we don't fully develop that character that we've suddenly fallen in love with. But there will be other days and other times. Currently I am finishing up the edits for my next Romantic Suspense, Dead Man's Treasure. Its focus is on a character who grabbed my attention during the first book in the Dead Man series, Dead Man's Rules. From the moment I put Freeda Ferguson on the written page, I grew close to her. I loved her spirit of adventure and I wanted her to succeed. But first I had to find a story for her, and I needed to find an adventure for her. I've used her in a couple of my books, simply as a background character or given her a mention, but I wanted to get to know her better and truly show her to readers.
Well, now the book is written, and I have given Freeda that life and a problem of her own to solve. As it turned out, Freeda had some traits I hadn't even discovered when I first started writing about her. She is a free spirit who loves adventure, but she is also vulnerable and human, even as she is tested to her core.
Dead Man's Treasure will be released soon. Sometimes you have to go back to revisit an idea you originally discarded and give it a second chance. Then you can say YES!
