It has been a super-frustrating week for me. My editor made suggestions to improve Daisies Are Forever. But trying to get it to work historically hasn’t been easy. I’ve tried changing the date, moving the location, and everything else under the sun. Days wasted on research. Pages written and immediately deleted. Urgh.

By last night, I have to admit I wasn’t a very happy person. I was going to have to call my editor and ask for an extension – right through my trip to California. There was no way this was going to work. It was just going to be an awful book.

I started telling all of this to my family. I needed to off a character but could figure it out. As I spoke, I told them the different ways I had tried.

And then it came to me. Brilliant! Why hadn’t I seen it sooner??? It was soooo simple!!!

I’m bummed about the “wasted” time on research (although you never know when you’ll need it), but I’m chugging along through the story again. Whoopie!!!

My advice, when you can’t get it to work (writing or otherwise):
1. Chill out. My getting upset last night didn’t help the creative process.
2. Talk it out. With your family (they don’t even need to know about your book), your friends, yourself, your editor, your crit partner. You never know what good ideas they’ll come up with.
3. Leave it in God’s hands. If you’ve done the work and done it to the best of your ability, He will use it as He sees fit. He’s like that. It’s pretty great. And often He’ll show you the answer.