It seems to me that my writing requires an activation energy that must be met every single time I sit at the keyboard. I want to write, I sit with the intention of writing, but there is always a resistance and it takes an effort of will to overcome that resistance. However, once that has been overcome the writing moves forward without much resistance. It’s the barrier that I have to force myself over but knowing that it is just a momentary barrier makes it one that can be surmounted but never ignored.

In addition to the activation energy to begin writing for the day each project also seems to have their own elements of momentum. At the start of any new project, short story or novel, it is tough getting the story going. The characters kind of mill about in scenes and the scenes feel pointless generating doubt about the entire project. Again, if I push on there comes a moment when the story moves by itself. It is as if I needed to get up to a certain speed and crest a hill but once I do it slides on its own all the way to the end.

On my newest novel I have discovered a new trap, a new hazard to avoid. With the publication Vulcan’s Forge, I received some very nice praise, praise that was unknown by this reader directed at a particular aspect of the SF story that I had worked quite hard at. It was quite a moment of pride to have someone tell me that the elements that really wanted to work had been one of their selling points.

Now I am working a new SF novel and this element again needs careful attention but like the milliped after being asked how it manages to move so many feet perfectly coordinated, I find myself frozen and worried that I’m messing up what I had once done so well.

There’s no cure for this but to work through it and trust myself and my eventual beta readers.

With writing, and all the arts, there are always new barriers to overcome.