Hey, readers!

Remember the time when I was only writing one book? That was fun. It was easy and breezy, with no real deadlines and no expectations. After all, it was just an accident.

However, now that it’s also been accidentally published and I’ve been thrust into the world of authory types, I find myself getting really excited about arranging the alphabet some more! I’ve written short stories that I want to build into a silly space opera anthology, punched out a few guest-blogger articles, jotted down words for book two and book three, scribbled some ideas for a Xav and Viv prequel novella that I want to explore, and HAAAAAALP! I need a couple of extra brains to assist me with all the things!

Ever get like that?

 

For the first time in like, ever, I am going to have to make a priority list for my creative writing. I suppose this is not a bad problem to have. But if I don’t do that, my brain will explode into blobs of goop. What’s also important for me to remember is that I have to manage my cognitive function as well as my physical limitations. Slow and steady wins this spoonie’s race!

On top of writing my own words, I am the editor of the Spoonie Authors Network, and a manuscript editor for indie authors. Lots of word things are happening in this wee Celt’s life. Balance will be important.

What’s hardest for me to keep in mind is not to compare myself with others. The authors I know have been writing for years and they have more books and short stories as a result. I spent a couple of decades as a technical writer and a musician. While they were writing novels, I was banging out user guides and my drumkit. Right now it’s vital that I just I enjoy my own journey.

Thankfully, as I was lying in bed last night, I had an Ah ha! moment for book two. That’s great because for months I was wrestling with how to get out of a certain place with my characters. But a silly idea occurred to me, which makes me grateful that my preferred genre is Silly, and off I will go to write another silly book. Can I say silly one more time? Sure. SILLY!

I have read tweets from other authors who have several WIP on the go, and it’s interesting to see how they manage them. Some are quite content to have a bunch of unfinished stories about the place, others feel overwhelmed, and yet other others manage to eventually get them all written. I guess it’s an individual outlook and comfort sort of thing. Me? I don’t like having unfinished projects, but I also know about project planning from my tech-writing days. I think having a prioritised list with proposed scheduling will calm me down. It will give me a guideline, too, on what to be focusing on, and I can sort of see how far I’ve come. I will try to write sequentially, but will also allow for Wait, I hafta write this idea down! sorts of things. Because hey, they happen.

My latest short story is about a spoonie, which I’m hoping to submit to an anthology. It’s a first draft, so I’ll want to finish that one. And then I will work on book two, which I affectionately think of as The ’Cosm Breakfast Club. (I was a teen in the ’80s, you understand.)

In the meantime, I will try to breathe into a paper bag, prioritise, put up tentative schedules, and then just play in my sandbox, because writing is so much fun for me. I don’t want it to be a stress. I’ve got such great support in my life, too. I want to have a blast doing the thing I’ve longed to do all my life.

(Raises pen high like a sword.)

And now, to wording all the words! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!

(That was supposed to be a battle cry, but it came out a bit piratey.)

/cg

Cait Gordon is an Irish-Canadian warrior princess and author of Life in the ’Cosm, a space opera about a little green guy who’s crushing on the female half of his two-headed colleague (Renaissance). Cait’s also the editor of the Spoonie Authors Network, a blog that solely features writers who manage disabilities and/or chronic illness.