Refilling the Well

A couple of weeks ago, I was writing Hero Ad Litem, and something broke inside of me. I love the characters of this series. I have a lot of fun writing them. And all of the sudden it wasn't fun.

It wasn't just the 888-555-HERO series. I switch between projects, and I was having the same problem with Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse. When I fiddled around with the Willowbrook Witches short story that was supposed to be April's free short story, I got really worried and took a step back from everything.

I talked over the issues with some friends. As one of them pointed out, I'd had a ton of life rolls this year alone. Never mind the pandemic and the ongoing coup of the U.S. government. Or everything else that's been happening in our family since 2013.

When I took a second step back, I realized it wasn't just the 2022 life rolls. I made a major writing mistake. I wasn't refilling my well.

For those of you who aren't professional storytellers, we need to be consumers as well as producers. We need to be reading new (to us) books, watching new (to us) movies and TV, and listening to new (to us) music. Not for imitation, but to produce something new with all the bits we take in. Think of it as making a smoothie. You throw in a bunch of different ingredients and make something new when you turn on the blender.

Because of the massive suck of the last couple of years, I've been consuming old favorites. Re-reading Kathryn Kurtz's Deryni series. Re-watching favorite sitcoms like Friends, Dharma & Greg, and The Big Bang Theory. Re-watching favorite movies like The Mummy, GalaxyQuest, and The Wedding Singer. For music, it's been '90's rock and metal.

Absolutely, none of this is new to me. I took comfort in old favorites to keep the fucking depression from coming back like it did in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I took a harder look at my consumption for 2022. I've read one and a half new books. TOTAL over the last six months. I normally read a couple of books a week. The only new series I've watch was Ghosts. The only new movies I've seen were The King's Man and Free Guy. That's pretty fucking sad for someone who has several hundred unread book on her tablet and has subscribed to nearly every major streaming service.

Also, I haven't been traveling because of the stupid pandemic either. I was just getting started again after my cancer surgery. I went to DH on a road trip to Denver, and I flew to Las Vegas for a writing workshop. And then BOOM!

Sure, I made a handful of road trips for family-related reasons during the pandemic, but it's not quite the same when you're constantly worried about exposing yourself and subsequently, vulnerable family members to the virus. But these trips weren't for our entertainment.

So, DH and I went to a movie in a theater last weekend. We are going to do some ghost-hunting next month, and I contacted an old friend about getting together.

Hopefully, this all helps my muse to refill my well. And I find writing fun again.