Checking In after Three Months without Novel Writing
It’s been roughly three months since I decided that I would put novels on the VERY backburner for 2022. I told myself that I would check in with this decision roughly quarterly to decide if it was still working for me.
So far, the answer is a resounding yes. I’m still juggling a lot of projects, but I don’t feel quite as overwhelmed as I often do when I’m working on a novel on top of writing short fiction and poetry. I have a lot of leeway to bounce around to different things if I need a short break from a specific project. And I’m getting a lot done–so far this year, I’ve written two short stories, two very short stories (but still longer than flash), five flash pieces, four microfiction pieces, and six poems, for a total of 19 completed pieces in the first three months of the year. (And I’ve also got a handful more pieces in various stages of almost done.)
Thus far, I haven’t felt an overwhelming urge to write something novel length. I have one project that could turn into a novella, but it’s more likely to just wind up a longer short story (in the 5,000-8,000 range, which is LONG for one of my short stories). I haven’t really had any ideas for long pieces that I just have to write.
So for the time being, novels are remaining on the backburner. I’ll check in again in early July to see where I’m at with my thought process and feelings about this!
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