Writing and reading.

Read through the reviews on some of my books, and they really were more positive than I remember. I think, during the moment, the negative reviews tend to stick out. Frankly, about half the negative reviews were weird--either way off base or petty. The other half were legit, and a few were spot on in identifying the weaknesses of a book. 

But overall, very positive results, and not just from friends and acquaintances.

Read the first Lois McMaster Bujold Penric novella and she's up to her old tricks. Which are good tricks. Something I've noticed with writers I really like is that I read so much of them that I start to notice their little techniques--their tricks--at being a satisfying read. I've often thought I should write all these tricks down and see if I can't reproduce them in my own writing, but then, when I'm actually in the midst of writing, I go my own way, which is probably for the best.

Bujold is the best write I know who fairly often writes clunkers. All but one of her early Vorkosigan books were great, but there was one definite clunker among them. Her first fantasy was pretty bad. Her later Vorkosigan books fell off in quality, the more she got away from Miles Vorkosigan. 

I really didn't care for the Sharing Knife series. Really, she shouldn't be trying to emulate YA fantasy series with all their tropes--those writers should be emulating HER.

But her Chalion series is absolutely great stuff. I wanted more of that, but she seemed to disappear for awhile. Turns out, she was producing her own novellas set in the Chalion world, starring a character named Penric. The only way to get them was expensive editions, which I might have done if they were all available at the time.

Anyway, she's finally released the first six of the Penric novellas in two volumes, and I read the first of them last night and it was great. Very satisfying. 

I liked writing. I was satisfied with what I produced. 

So why aren't I writing?

Basically, it's a huge investment of time and energy. For me to accomplish anything, I have to totally focus on the story. It doesn't leave much room for anything else.

Conversely, if I'm doing something else, I can't do the writing.

I dedicated these last two years to getting the store ready for sale, for making a last bit of money. I also wanted to relax; not expect anything of myself in the creative realm. 

I'm also seeing that there might be some creative benefits in taking a break. My creative energy is obviously reviving--waking up with entire plots to books is a sign of that. I suspect that when I get back to writing, I'll have renewed inspiration.

And it gives me time to think about the process. What I was doing wrong, what I was doing right, what goals I'm trying to achieve.