When the Words Don't Flow

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That dreaded moment arrived and yikes I thought I'd lost my drive to create. Sometimes, I think we work so hard at our writing, that our mind goes no I want you to stop for a while, so I did. This week I’ve been having a cuppa and breakfast in the village and living a mighty fine life indeed. Yet, each time I returned to the  writing page, it was like hey kiddo, I’ve got nothing for you.
   Taa daa, here I am writing my blog post which is super late. Being honest and raw and hoping by next week that the writing buzz will return.
    On a happy note, I have started the ball rolling on my local picture book story ‘Our Shellharbour.’ I have lived and grown up in Shellharbour and nowhere else, so there so much heart and passion in this project and it sure does show. I spent over a year writing and rewriting the manuscript and then when I thought it was done I got it assessed. You’re living the dream Karen, it’s ready. So I sent the draft off to Kera Bruton, who is the most amazing illustrator, and the most perfect one for this project. But then I messaged her and said, ‘Kera, no it’s not right yet, give me a few more weeks.’ I read the story over and over and wrote it out and wondered. I dived into my books and that’s when it came to me. Kill those darlings, and so I went back to the manuscript and I did more than kill those darlings, I destroyed the manuscript. I took out all of my hard work and ended up with a pared down manuscript. So I thought long and hard and finally I went back to the original manuscript and had a brainwave. I took out the family characters and created two child characters. I spent days researching names and writing them out and then what did I do? I went back to the original two names I had chosen. Then I created dialogue. Bingo the manuscript was now ready to roll.
    I will be sharing little snippets in my blog about the project. This month I will be searching for seashells for Kera. Because it is a local book so it needs local shells, not generic shells from the internet. 'Our Shellharbour' is going to be authentic, real  and incredible.
    Till we meet again next month, thanks for stopping by and visiting, Karen