Writing is a joy. That’s what I tell myself in my head while I’m grinding my teeth in the middle of a lull in the rising action, when I am at my least willing to get through a story. Writing is a joy.
It was so easy when I was a teenybopper, when I was hopping from story to story without a care about publishing. (Okay, I cared, but didn’t think I was ready for that yet.) The words flowed like honey: sweetly and in their own time, coating my pages with a semblance of gold.
Don’t get me wrong. I still feel that way much of the time, when I’m in deep focus mode. But since I started publishing, I’ve fallen into this habit of telling myself I can only work on the projects that have a deadline.
What this actually means is that I don’t work on anything, not for a while. Because I don’t want to do the things I have to do. That’s why my apartment looks like a disaster zone. That’s why I take forever and a day to get the check engine light in my car investigated. And, let’s be honest, that’s at least a little bit of the reason why I had to push back one of my pre-orders for the first time ever. I’m not proud of that, but it had to happen.
But you know what I have no problem working on? The just-for-funsies project I started during my second bout of COVID-19. Oh, boy, am I chomping at the bit to get back to it! It’s not a book, but it is a story, and it is a kind of story I’ve been wanting to write for a while—it just doesn’t fit neatly into any of my pen names’ niches.
Now, when I was sick, I easily spent six or more hours a day working on this project, even though I could hardly get my fingers through a few sentences of the book I was obligated to produce. While I struggled and continue to struggle with negative self-talk—I’m not producing enough, I should be able to power through this sickness and my boredom—this just-for-funsies project reinvigorated me, at least for the day. Being a completely new-to-me medium, it presented delicious challenges and forced me to think outside the box.
I am still learning how to balance my priorities—a process I’m having to start all over again, since it looks like COVID-19 has messed with my brain in a way that my first encounter with the virus did not. It’s harder for me to get into that deep focus mode, harder to stay in it longer, and harder to do lots of other focus-related things.
But a just-for-funsies project might be exactly the thing I need—or that you need—as a reminder that storytelling is the passion to end all passions.
What makes a good “just for funsies” project?
Obviously, everyone has their own idea of fun. All of your books might be this kind of project for you, and if that’s the case, good for you! I hope that light never dims!
If that isn’t you, however, here are a few hallmarks of what might be a good “just for funsies” project you can work on when you’re feeling burned out.
- The story is in a genre you’ve never written in before, but has always intrigued you
- It’s a premise that has been on your mind for a while
- It’s a medium you’ve never tried (doesn’t even have to be writing!)
- You get electrified when you think about it
- You’ve accidentally gone down rabbit holes before about the topic (the trick is to set timers!)
- You want to share it with everyone and also no one
- It doesn’t work with any of your current author personas (no pressure to get it out to an awaiting audience—or awaiting Amazon)
