Do You Believe in Magic?
What to do when I've finished one very long novel and have no idea for my next project?
I could revise the completed one again. I could review two other novels still waiting for publication and do a little editing. There's always the possibility of improvement--finding a more apt simile, a better phrase. Nothing is finished until it's in the public eye. And even then some writers revise.
I could spend some time working on the business of publishing. That's something every writer needs to do, but most, like me, abhor it. I yearn for a dedicated public relations expert who would take over that aspect of my writing. Colette's husband supposedly locked her in a room to write while he went out to peddle her writing to publishers. I wouldn't mind that, except for the part about being locked in my room.
I feel so restless when I don't have a specific project bubbling away while I go about my daily routine so I'm forced to face it--time to visit the compost heap. 9That's how I think of the unconscious of my writer's mind where the germinating ideas and experiences are processed.)
It helps to refer to the Writer's Idea Book, my notebooks, my files of newspaper stories and magazine articles filed for future consideration. It also helps to light a candle before the pictures of my muse. Call me superstitious, but that little bit of magic and the fragrance of incense helps me focus.
So, here goes-- a few hours of checking out publishers and doing the necessary work of submitting and then dig into the compost heap. Write on!
