In this last year, I took a hiatus from writing due to my living situation. Now, I have a room dedicated to just computers, writing, gaming, and I'm digging it! I haven't felt like writing much since my move, just because trying to get used to being in our own place once more and living circumstances what they are... Let's just call it a huge adjustment. Again.
But I sat down yesterday and forced myself to revise some of book two. I put on some good writing music, popped on my headphones and got to work. And I worked for two hours. I know, because the music I was playing was on YouTube. Two hours of epic fantasy music sort of thing, you know.
I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep revising, but I'm trying to pace myself.
In this last year, even though I didn't write on my computer, I did write some things out by hand in notebooks. I read, I wrote and I stepped outside of my fantasy genre. Something I thought I would never do, but I did.
I don't know what has changed.
By change, I mean in a good way. I'm looking to be more concise, more descriptive and my writing is showing my "maturity", I suppose you could say. It's different. I'm reading what I've written before and I'm like, "Hmm... this could be so much better if I wrote it this way. Why didn't I see that before?"
Why didn't I see that before?
Well, I think it is what stepping away from things for a while always does. It offers up perspective. Now, I can't pinpoint exactly what has changed about my writing or when it happened. But I'm embracing the change and I hope it comes through when people read book two of my fantasy series. It won't be the same as book one, I hope. It will be different, but in a good way, as far as my writing skills go.
At least, this is my personal opinion. I'll just have to get it out there for the readers and see what they have to say about it.
Ahh... this feels good.
Have you ever stepped away from a project for a long period of time? What were your results?
