ChessieWriter

I’m writing a book. My second one, actually (the first one This, Their Friendship’s Monument can be found on Amazon).

Writing my first book taught me how hard writing a first book can be. And because I self-published using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), I know how complicated that is too. In some of my previous blogs, I describe the process.

I thought the second time around would be easier. After all, I know the ropes now, right? It should be a breeze. Easy peasy.

It is and it isn’t. There is a yin-and-yang quality, I’m discovering, to writing a second book.

Yang: having finished and published a first book proves that it can be done. Yin: which doesn’t allow for the sometimes comforting thought “I don’t know what I’m doing so I can just give up.” It sounds counterproductive, but I found with my first book that I could coax myself to keep going by saying to myself “Don’t worry, you don’t have to finish it. Nobody expects you to anyway.” It took the pressure off and actually provided incentive to keep going. Now there is expectation, from everyone including me.

Yang: I’m really good at research now. Yin: and I know exactly how difficult and tedious it can be.

Yang: my house is spotless, everything I own is organized, and my yard looks amazing. Yin: that’s because I’m doing everything but writing right now, because I know how hard it is to finally commit to put backside in chair, leave the land of the living, hunker down for days and weeks at a time and WRITE.

Even this blog, I suddenly realized, is a symptom of my procrastination.

Enough. I’m done with my layover at Procrastination Station and am going to get back on the train heading to Conjunction Junction, as I’ve come to think of it.

Because it’s the only place where the writing gets done.