Kryptonite, Blog Hopping

Welcome to another #OpenBook blog hop. Here’s this week’s prompt.

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Hmmm, another provocative question. And one with so many potential answers.

How about Procrastination?

Well, it’s true that I often start my writing day full of good intentions, then lose interest and find cat video’s to watch instead.

Then there’s self-doubt,  

This is the nagging feeling that I regularly get. I start to wonder if what I’m writing is any good? Is it worth me continuing with this story at all, or would I be better off just beginning again?

And its close relative, Imposter Syndrome.

Sometimes I think that I’m fooling myself, that I might think I’m an author but everyone else will soon come to the conclusion that I’m not. I’m sure that one day, I’ll get found out.

They all play their part in my writing.

But my biggest weakness is getting side-tracked.

It happens all the time. I’ll be happily writing a sci-fi adventure; when one of my characters will say or do something that bears further investigation. I’ll head off to do a bit of research and before you know it, I’ve started another story, probably Steampunk, or Cozy-Crime.

My original work is forgotten for a while, until I get a reminder, in the form of a question such as “when is **** coming out?” or “have you finished that story about ***?”

And the thing that can make me head off in another direction? It could be a comment, a piece of backstory or a throwaway remark. It could be a fact that I discover while I’m researching. Or it could even be some remark that I overhear in a café or shop while I’m having a real life.

I’ve written books based on hotel rooms I’ve stayed in, overheard snippets of conversation and obscure facts that I’ve discovered while looking for something else

The trouble is, once I get an idea, I get caught up in the excitement of creating a new world and meeting new characters. All the responsible brain cells go for a coffee; I’m left ignoring the story I’ve spent ages crafting. When you consider that I probably thought of it while writing something else, its demotion is pretty ironic.

It joins the ranks of my Works in Progress, where it will languish, sometimes for years with its predecessors, soon to be joined by its successors.

I’m not against having new ideas, far from it. Some of them are really good; if I say so myself. But I would prefer to finish one thing before I start on another. My current tally of unfinished projects is eight, which seems to remain pretty constant, no matter how much I write.

Is there a solution, some sort of anti-kryptonite? If there is, I have yet to find it. I’m at the mercy of my insatiable thirst for knowledge and my inability to keep to one thing for any length of time.

Fans of my series will be disappointed to know that the third parts of my Norlandian tales, my Dave Travise Space Opera and The Balcom Saga will all be delayed, while I write about The Hit Man and the Thief, The Safety of the Realm and Alysom’s Revenge. And whatever else might occur to me in the meantime. There’s bound to be something.

I’m reminded of this quote, a more appropriate version, as far as I’m concerned, would be the second of the pictures.

I’ve got to the end of the post without getting side-tracked once, I think that must be some kind of a record!

If this post has got you interested in any of my novels, you can get more details by clicking the Portfolio link. Or, to receive a free short story, The Orbital Livestock Company, just join my team of subscribers by clicking here.

I’ll be back on Thursday with another Showcase post, featuring an Indie Author with something to say. Please click the links to see the other great blogs on this hop.