Oh no! Not a Wangst Attack!

I'm having an off day.

An off week, actually.

No particular reason, just feeling a bit "meh" about life in general and, of course, my writing. Nothing's going on, nothing to worry about, just one of those "blah" weeks that come along to put things in perspective and make us all appreciate the good weeks.

As far as impacting my writing, it goes back and forth. One day I'm knocking out 10,000 words like it's nothing, then along comes a day like today where even 100 words is agony.

So, I took today off. I'm well ahead of the game on Behind Closed Doors, which is sitting just under 35,000 words after 6 days. I'm not worried about falling behind, but I definitely needed a day off. I did take some time to work on the outline because I had some concerns about a few scenes and their relevance, but didn't actually write anything new.

Part of this is just having a "meh" week, but I think I'm noticing a trend with my books. At right about the 1/3 to 1/2 mark, I start wangsting about whether or not there's enough conflict, if the story is going to fall apart, if I should have just stopped before the Milestone of Destinah and tossed the particular book in the Wangstbasket. I've hit this point with the last few books, and I'm hitting it now with Behind Closed Doors. Given the sheer size of the outline (this book will easily hit 100,000 words) and the number of subplots, it's giving me fits. I want them all to weave together into a coherent story, I'm concerned they're just tangling into something resembling a cat hairball.

So, I've hit that point where I start worrying if all the work I've put in so far is a waste, if the final manuscript will only be worthy of shredding to use as packing material. Throw a wangsty day on top of an already "blah" week, and it puts a bit of a dent in productivity. But hey, if I'm getting the wangsty day and the "blah" week out of the way at the same time, then that's two birds with one stone. Hooray for efficiency. Or something.

Anyway. I know I'm a good writer, but I have my moments, and this is one of them. This too shall pass. Tomorrow will be a better day. I will get past this, just as I always do, and the story will be fine, just as it always is.

And I will finish it.

Because if I don't, Scarlett will hurt me.