There are times when the writing flow comes naturally. There are, conversely, times like this, where it stays firmly away. It’s not writer’s block, as far as I’m aware but for nearly a week now, I’ve opened the current WIP file, read a bit and then closed it up again. Invariably, that has involved no additional writing at all, sometimes not even editing.

Pedestrianism is creeping in again and, although I have told myself to just “write and be damned” (as I can always edit it out), I’m beginning to doubt the credibility of my main character, Ashleigh. That’s hugely significant, so I hope that doubt will go and I’ll pick it up again.

The credibility comes down to her being, well, normal. We’re all of us normal, I guess but to give any fictional character roundness, a degree of unusual-ness needs to be there. As far as I’m aware, all major literary characters have such.

Not that I’m anticipating that this story, if it ever gets finished, to be some magnus opus. I would like it to be worth completing, though and I’d want people to read and enjoy it, too. Obviously. It’s all very well having “writing as an end in itself”, any writer who doesn’t want others to enjoy their work is, I believe, deluding themself.

It’s not like I’ve even run out of ideas. As it progresses, so additional thoughts come to mind, which I try to write down so I can weave into the story as best I can. So, this weekend, I will open the latest chapter again and push on.

If I had started on this writing quest earlier, I may have sussed things out better. Then again, life is full of “ifs”, so I can’t allow myself to go down that road. I chose my path, rightly or wrongly. Engineering has put food on my table since I was seventeen. If I had tried writing back then, I may well have failed and given up. As it is, I have a fairly decent, if not extravagant lifestyle and can pick up the writing as a pastime that may provide a small financial reward, should I persist. I’m not going to publish anything I’m not happy with, though and will only release it to the world if it is at least halfway decent.  I mean, we all have standards, right?