In and Out of the Writing Zone

The difference between me now and five years ago is that back then nothing could distract me from writing and now just about anything can distract me.

I knew at the time that I was in a zone. Starting with "Freedy Filkins," which I wrote as a lark but which I still like, it seemed like the stories just kept coming. There were difficulties here and there, but mostly I was in a zone.

I was amazed. I thought with every book that the creative energy would dry up, but I just kept going. I'd spent 30 years convincing myself that the world didn't need another writer--but apparently, my creative energies were just being stored up.

I knew that it wouldn't last forever because of my previous career. Once I wrote the final draft of "Star Axe" (after five years of struggling) I felt inspired, and "Snowcastles" and "Icetowers" quickly followed.

Then I hit a wall. My third and fourth books were bad. I struggled with them. I broke free with "Deviltree," which was not too bad, and then met Linda and we produced "Sometimes a Dragon," which was a chaotic mess but had a lot of good ideas.

Then real life caught up with me--Linda and the boys, Pegasus Books, making a living....and the thirty years whipped by in a fog.

So from the beginning of this renaissance, I knew that it could come to a screeching halt

I wouldn't say that it has, but the urgency has passed. Since finishing "Eden's Return," I've been focusing on previously written material, which needed to be done anyway, but rewriting has never had the same appeal to me.

I don't think I've hit a wall, but I've perhaps drifted from the zone.