What Else Can I Do When I Can’t Write?

So here’s what I ask myself when I find I’m not writing even though I want to be: what can I do to prep for the time when I CAN write again? This week’s answer – think about what I want to do during NaNoWriMo this year.

I know October is NaNo prep month at Routines for Writers, but in order to prep for it I need to at least have a couple ideas of what I might want to BE prepping. I generally have it narrowed down as follows:

* work on the current WIP because it’s in a beginning stage anyway

* work on the next book in the series if the current WIP is a series book

* work on something completely different

Brilliant, isn’t it? Work on the same or something different. Wow, aren’t you glad you showed up today for my advice?

My first thought was to work on the next book in the series I’m trying to sell. After all, I have half the work done – I know the characters, and I have an idea about the plot. The current WIP is close to done, so I’d want to be thinking about the next book anyway. It seems like a good business decision – make even more of the product you want to sell, don’t diversify too much when starting out, be ready with two books in a series so that when it sells you’re ahead of the publishing curve.

But my friend Wendy, an agent and all around savvy lady, encouraged me to write something new. If I sell the first book in my series story, the publisher will ask for the second one. But if I don’t sell the first one, I won’t be selling the second one, and I won’t have any other books to send potential agents and editors. Hmm, makes sense.

So this week while I’m on hold with the phone company and the Internet service provider trying to find out why I still can’t access the Internet at home (remember, life is an ADVENTURE not a headache!), I’ll daydream about other ideas I have. As I take the train tomorrow to visit a new friend who also is getting her Master’s in Creative Writing degree, I’ll stare out the window and think of new ideas. Then over the next couple of weeks, I’ll choose my new NaNo novel idea and be ready to start coming up with characters and plots in October.

So I can’t carve out time to write yet. That doesn’t mean I can’t make any forward progress. What about you?