New Year, Old Fears

Greetings and salutations. Welcome one and all to the year 2020. (God, that’s going to take some getting used to, isn’t it?)

As we find ourselves taking these first steps into a brand new decade, let us take a moment to reflect upon our successes and, more importantly, our failings where it comes to our writing through the 2010s.

I feel that at some point, we are all faced with creeping imposter syndrome as the mistakes we make in regards to our storytelling choices come back to haunt us. Perhaps we were too ambitious, bit off more than we could chew and powered forward despite any reservations we may have had. It’s hard to let a story or a world go, especially when, in your heart, you’ve convinced yourself it is the best idea you will ever have and stopping would be more painful that pressing on down the path.

That’s okay. We all get attached to things, and stories are no different. I obsessed for the first third of the decade on an idea for an ongoing comic serial I planned to toss online… Trouble was, I spent so much time designing the world, the history of said world, and the various character histories and how they wove together that, by the time it came to draw the damn thing, I was completely exhausted and burned out. I trunked those characters and that world, but even that was hard to do because I, foolishly, always assumed that I would never be able to come up with new stories.

Toss it in the Trunk

Letting go is hard, but necessary. If you’ve reached a point where the mere thought of touching a story you’ve been working fills you with dread or simply triggers an immediate stress response… toss in a trunk and let it rest there. You’re not supposed to be made miserable by something you’ve written, that’s not healthy for anyone. Put it away, even if it will break your heart to do so, and engage in a little self-care. You are more important than your stories, and if one, in particular, is draining your will to live it is time to put the damn thing away and try something else.

I’ve put so much time into it …

We all have, I’m certain of that. Just because you’ve put time into something doesn’t mean you need to pursue it further. We all hit roadblocks, we all find dead-ends, and how we choose to address those moments can define our interactions with our work going forward.

Take, for example, the story of Sid the Writerman. This is, of course, a true story and not something I invented at this very moment to make a point. (That would just be silly) …

Sid was a young man of no renown who wanted to travel from the village of Prologue to the shining city of Epilogue, situated far to East with bright white towers and empty promises. So our dear Sid gathered his belongings and ventured East for some indeterminate amount of time with nary a fear to be had. He was fine, he was happy… then things changed. His supplies ran low and his enthusiasm began to wane, but he had the willpower to carry on and forge his path.

It was admirable until he found himself at the foot of a cliff and looked up. There was no way to climb the thing, he’d fall back down immediately. He couldn’t go around it either, because there was no way to know how far North or South he would need to go to do so. He might drop dead of exhaustion or lose his way entirely. So Sid did the only reasonable thing he could do; He took out his trusty spoon and began to chip at the rockface. He obviously couldn’t go back and plan better for his journey… that would be quitting and quitting was unacceptable.

So he chipped away at the mountain, hoping to carve himself a tunnel.

Some say he’s still chipping away to this day …

Well, not really. You and I know that poor fellow is dead with nothing to show for his efforts save for some scratches on a stone wall.

Where am I going with this?

Look, folks, it’s a New Year. 2020! The terrible, tired puns about seeing things clearly write themselves. Take some time to reflect and decide where your long-form projects currently are, and whether they’re worth the effort you’re putting into them.

Okay, sermon over. Happy New Year everyone!

P.S.

It is with a heavy heart that I must let you all know I will be continuing this series until you’re sick of me, I apologize for that. Prepare for like fifty more months of this.

FFC News!

Entries for the FFC from last week are OFFICIALLY CLOSED. Winners will be announced at some point by someone.

K, bye!