Lack of motivation or writer’s block?
I’ve often mentioned that I’ve never had writer’s block. I’m a full-time writer, so there’s always something that I want to write! That’s not writer’s block. (Choosing what to write is another matter.)
I believe I’ve also mentioned that in the last few years, I’ve been having more problems remembering the precise word—I know it exists, and it comes to me on my content-editing passes. That’s not writer’s block either.
But is lack of motivation writer’s block? I suppose it is if an author can’t write anything, but the lack of motivation hits me with respect to books I’d planned to write, usually the next book in a series. For example, you have two free PDFs for the sixth and seventh book in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series. (Defanging the Red Dragon and Intolerance are in the list found on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.) They exist because I was ambivalent about continuing the series. (I published #8, The Klimt Connection, on March 18 with D2D—inspired in part by the two red ales I quaffed on St. Paddy’s Day?) I was motivated to write all three of those novels, and I did so in four months! Motivation is important.
My problem with extending a series isn’t completely due to the fact that the so-called “book marketing experts” don’t want to promote, or don’t even know how to promote, a series. That’s but one way to kill my motivation.
You’ll remember that I had problems with the second book in “The Last Humans” series, the first with the publisher of the first book, Black Opal Books, and then with Amazon for the second book. (That was the final nail in Amazon’s coffin for me. No recent books of mine appear on Amazon!) A. B. Carolan and I had plans to continue “The Denisovan Trilogy” (only the first book is out, and not on Amazon), but a lukewarm reception of the first novel, Origins, has dampened our enthusiasm. I also had plans to turn More than Human: The Mensa Contagion into two separate novels (that would require some expansion, mostly in the part about the Mars colony) and then write a third, but again a luke-warm reception of that book dampened my enthusiasm.
Of course, motivation can be lacking for a specific project simply because I find other projects more appealing! I was clearly motivated to write the last three “Esther Brookstone” novels that can be considered a sub-trilogy of political thrillers (with relevance to current politics at that!). The free PDFs for #6 and #7 were easy to produce,. and the D2D ebook was too (more about that on Friday), so most of my time was spent on finishing the manuscripts. (Maybe doing the latter was more obsession than motivation? Same difference, of course.)
I recognize that I’m lucky. Nothing in what I’ve experienced and described above can be considered writer’s block, but I believe that authors will have similar experiences as their careers progress. In a sense, it’s not about sitting down and doing the writing, it’s about satisfying a yen to get some specific thing written. My advice? It’s the same I have for life in general: Just roll with the punches and do the best you can with what you love to do.
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The Klimt Connection. Book Eight in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series finds Esther and husband hustled away to an MI5 safehouse after their flat in London is bombed. They cope, along with others who are threatened by the bomber and his accomplices, and the hunt for the domestic terrorists is UK- and EU-wide. It leads to the discovery of a nationwide conspiracy, all financed by the far right and designed to purge the UK of perceived invaders, migrants and refugees who are accused of wanting to “replace” the white majority. This novel is now available at all quality ebook retailers and lending services (but not on Amazon). You will enjoy this book about Esther’s new adventures.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
