Writing in a New Place

View from the road in Hagåtña, Guam

Greetings from Guam!

After nearly a month on the island of Guam, my hubby and I are in our own apartment. Our household goods haven't arrived yet, but we've successfully hooked up with a local internet provider. 

I have no excuse for not jumping into my writing projects.

New Project Set in Guam

One project I'm excited to begin is a women's fiction novella series set on Guam. The idea is to share what I'm experiencing through a fictional character named Stephanie Smart, a literary writer whose star has begun to fade at the same time she experiences a personal drama. She decides to move to Guam and get away from all the mess of her former life. She meets a man who says he's there on international business, but is he hiding something? Most likely. Because I can't seem to not include intrigue in my fiction these days. 

I'm really looking forward to getting into this. 

So why am I procrastinating?

The Procrastination Monster

That's always the question, isn't it? We've all been there. We have something we want to begin or finish, but tugging on our arm is The Distraction Monster, dragging us from our task, hanging on our hands like a cranky, demanding three-year old at the water park. 

"Go over there!"

"I'm hungry!" 

"I'm thirsty!" 

"I want to have fun!" 

"I don't wanna sit down quietly!"

"No! No! No!" 

Are you picturing a little red-haired hellion throwing herself to the ground and throwing a tantrum? Kicking her ratty, untied tennis sneakers, face screwed up, crocodile tears hiding the sneaky look in her eyes? That's the Distraction Monster. 

(Where's my Catherine Zeta Jones Reclining on a Fainting Couch and Smoking a Cigarette While Drinking a Martini Muse when I need her? She's reclining. And unconcerned. Unhelpful at this moment. She leaves ME to deal with the procrastination hellion. "I'll be here when you take care of that brat," she says, her voice a nonchalant and smoky purr.)

Procrastination is a brat. It's immature. It does not want to take responsibility. The key is to show it you're the adult in the room. Ignore its excuses. Send it to sit in the corner, face to the wall. Put it to bed with the shades pulled, a snuggy blanket around it. Whatever you have to do to move forward. 

Multiple Projects

Procrastination Monster with a sly smile, batting her eyelashes at me innocently while I give her a stern talking to and interrupting me: "But I need to finish this one first! You said so. Remember? Huh? Huh? You did!" 

I've never been good at juggling multiple writing projects. How about you? 

I prefer to finish one, start the next. However, I'm hoping to try a new strategy while we are abroad for the next several years, and there is no reason for me NOT to begin writing Steph's story. 

So if I have the internet, my trusty Chromebook, a good idea and notes, what's holding me back? Besides the usual procrastination, I really want to complete a half-typed short story about my female P.I. Olivia Lively. I did finish it, by hand, back in June. Those pages are somewhere on the Pacific Ocean with the rest of my stuff, and for the life of me I can't remember the middle part of the story. 

I know the beginning. I know the end. I can't remember what happened in the middle because I rewrote that thing three times before I got it right, sometime around 3:30 a.m. one night at my parents' house in Maine, where I was writing in a notebook because I had no internet service. After finally catching that wave, I rode that story all the way to THE END, but darned if I can remember how I got there. 

Was the cousin important? Did she go next door? How did she get to the [spoiler] at the end to uncover the truth? 

Have you ever had to recreate a story you finished? Because you lost the pages or the computer crashed or something similar? 

I just need to sit down at my computer and think up some new middle for the short story and start typing. Something will come to me, right? 

Meanwhile, I'm keeping an online journal about my Guam experiences and writing on ShelleyBurbank.com several days a week if you are interested in reading more often about my adventures overseas.

Gun Beach, Tumon Bay

[Of course, now I want to try to draw some illustrations of The Procrastination Monster and my Muse. Which is, of course, MORE procrastination. Sigh. I'll leave you with this drawing that represents my seeker self, looking for meaning and answers and creativity and joy in crazy times. Maybe next post I'll have the Procrastination Monster and the Muse to amuse you. And hopefully news on a completed short story.]

Happy reading and writing this week, my friends! 

Cheers, 

Shelley