Wait, How Do I Write Again?

I’ve been working on a lot of things things this summer – editing, revising, re-writing – all stuff that I’m really excited to share with all of you soon! But it’s been a while since I’ve drafted something completely new, and when I started something for the first in ages last week I felt like… I didn’t know what I was doing.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I know how to type words and put sentences together. I usually draft stuff all the time, be it novels, novellas or short stories, so why did it suddenly feel so weird?

The thing I had set out to do was a short story for an anthology I want to submit to this fall. It’s anywhere between 5000 – 8000 words, and it has to fit a specific theme.

It wasn’t necessarily my go-to genre, but at the same time it wasn’t completely new to me either, and I already had an old idea living rent-free in my head that with few changes would fit perfectly.

I figured – let’s go for it! At the moment I’m sitting here waiting for feedback on a few things anyway, so let’s spend a few days drafting this thing.

I think I started about 9-10 days ago, and I just finished a first draft at around 7000 words.

It feels terrible.

I haven’t read through it yet, because I don’t edit as I go, but it just feels terrible. Writing it felt terrible, finishing it felt terrible, the whole idea of having to rework it and submit it feels terrible.

The idea actually came out pretty close to what I had envisioned, yet at the same time it feels terrible.

And I’m not usually like this—I tend to be quite reasonable when it comes to judging my own work (I think)—so why does this thing feel so very different?

I’ve concluded that it’s probably because it’s been a while since I’ve written things from scratch. I’ve been editing and rewriting for so many weeks and months, I feel like I’m slightly off my game. I feel rusty.

Well – it’s probably not as bad as I think. I’m a few days I’ll read through it and I’m sure I’ll realized that it’s not that terrible after all. And with a few weeks of rewriting and editing it, and the helpful eyes of a couple of beta readers, I’m sure I’ll whip it into shape.

But I think I need to make sure I keep drafting a few things here and there, even when I’m busy with other projects.

I can’t be getting rusty just yet.

What do you do to keep yourself on your toes? Any tips and tricks?