I finished the first draft, and got it out to two subject matter experts for an alpha read. Of course, this promptly ensured that they have extremely busy weeks, because Murphy’s Law is alive and well. But until it comes back, I’m not going to worry about it.
Which means I have a quiet mind with no story in it, for a few days. It’s a strange sensation… although, I guess I should say it’s a normal one, since normal people seem more likely to have this than writers. But abnormal for me, and I’d rather forgotten what it was like, after 8 months of writing the last story. I could, I suppose, pick up an older half-finished story and start a readthrough in order to figure out why I blocked and how to resume… but right now, I kind of like this.
It’s a novel feeling, having a head with no novel inside.
Not to worry, it won’t last too long. Either I’ll get feedback and stuck into edits, or something will bubble up. It always does.
Do you get that, too?
Mad Genius Club 
Sometimes. It’s nice to be here without the need to draw anything to deadline. I’m starting to get a bit itchy, though…
Yeah. I cling to that feeling of a completed story for as long as possible . . . like being sated after a good meal. It never lasts long, a day or two if I’m lucky. Very different from being stuck in the middle.
Nah. I work on stories in parallel, so there are never gaps.
I have three stories plus a novel in progress at the moment – this is a new record (or low point) for me, but it has to do with Day Job. Now that Day Job is winding down a whisker bit, I can pick one and work on it. When I have no story in my head, it means that either I have just kicked something out the door and am in neutral [static on mental screen] or I’m drained. Today is close to drained, so I’ll transcribe into the computer what I wrote longhand this past week, but not try anything difficult.
Yeah. I seem to do a mental hand wiping…OK, that’s done. And then gel for a few days before either going back to something else or starting something new.
No. Characters, secondary to walk-ons, are constantly crowding into my brain and begging for their moment in the sun.
Yes, I hear voices in my head so I take dictation.
I actually have your calmer half’s prison book in my head and I am mulling a lot over it. BTW so many of us are on the outside by sheer fortune. Ignore this post unless you really want thread drift.
“Which means I have a quiet mind with no story in it, for a few days.”
I finished “Coffee With Kali the Destroyer” a couple of weeks ago, and then Reality came crashing in with all sorts of fires to be put out, so I haven’t had a story in here for a little while.
One of the reasons I kept at writing in the first place (once I found out how hard it is) is that it shuts my brain up. I’m constantly reviewing scenarios, they play like war movies on the screen in my mind. Stupid things from childhood feature prominently, like the perfect comeback to Miss Knowitall from a conversation that took place in grade school. I’m an old guy, I don’t need to worry about dumb sh*t that happened in the 1960s. Unfortunately, it goes all by itself. No off switch. Just. Keeps. Going.
At least I’m writing, the movie is about the book. What -did- the people in the coffee shop do when 8 armed Kali dropped by for a cappuccino? That’s a better movie, as far as I’m concerned. ~:D
So now I have to think of a new problem for George and the young ladies. Something where they get to blow things up. Nothing like a nice explosion, I always say.