Hey, It's February 2019 and I haven't posted on here for a while.
I've been writing stories over the past year and a half since I last posted (mid-2017)
I feel like I've lost something in my writing. I have trouble getting excited about what I'm writing. And I'm not sure how to fix it. The past few stories that I've written weren't as good as I hoped. but more about that later.
Since the last update, I finished "Case of the Comic Book Crime" in December 2017, so that is 3 Justin Macdonald CaseFiles. I am struggling with book #4. I have a couple of titles that I'm trying to get motivated to write. "Case of the Creepy Caretaker" is one and the other is "Case of the Mausoleum Mummy".
Both are pretty cool titles--but I'm having trouble getting them started. I'm having trouble getting excited about writing them.
I finished the 2nd title in the Clayton Boys Series, "Deep Trouble" in December 2017. It is a pretty good story, but like the CaseFiles Series, I'm struggling to get excited about book #3, tentatively "The Purple Stone Caper". This story will flesh out secondary character Vikram Nath who's uncle was killed in book 1. his uncle was also behind the smuggling operation on Storm Island. There is some suspicion that Vikram will be recruited by his uncle's associates to carry on the smuggling operation and book 3 is supposed to deal with this...but again, I'm not excited about the story.
In the Justin Macdonald Mysteries, I completed #87 "Into Thin Air", which dealt with the kidnapping of arch-nemesis Daryl Peters. Justin rescues him which changes their relationship to now almost friends. I was tired of the feud between the two and wanted to explore them as friends. I have plans for another nemesis to take Daryl's place. So stay tuned...
Not sure how far I want to take this new relationship between Justin and Daryl, though. In the next story which was finished in 2018, "The Cryptic Symbol Mystery", Daryl moves in temporarily with the Macdonalds, as it is revealed that Daryl's father beats him. His father actually dies of a heart attack at the end of the story (sorry, major spoiler!!) so Daryl is now on his own.
The next planned story # 89, "The Iron Statue" has Justin moving in with his dad's operative Matt who lives over the garage. All goes not go smoothly, however, and I am in the process of writing this story now (Feb 2019)
I have a few other stories that I'm working on in this series. "Mystery of the Missing Prince", "Fright Wave", "The Desert Phantom", "Trial and Terror". These are all stories that I've started but can't get excited about (There's that word "excited" again)
I feel like I'm in a rut. I am writing, but it's not exciting for me when I'm stuck and am not motivated by the plot.
When I have a good idea and can run with it, the writing is fun. But when I'm not feeling it, I'm not motivated to write. Not sure how to overcome this. I wish someone could come up with plots and I just write the damn story. I love writing, but thinking up plots is hard and bogs me down. I don't think it's writer's block. I don't really believe in that. Sure you can get stuck on something but just move to something else and go back and it will eventually work out.
Anyway, I hope to be more productive in 2019. I keep planning new titles and stories and even more series. I have a series for girls, Lisa Bower and started writing book 1, "Mystery Of The Diamond Eye" but again...it's not exciting.
I'll keep this blog updated more in 2019 because so many of you are reading it. I don't want to let you down.
