I’ve been so excited, ideas for my work-in-progress pouring out like an open dam, flooding my brain with such force that I can’t type fast enough. For an author, that’s writing utopia, a state of productivity that nears perfection.

But, given nature’s need for balance, that wondrous state must give way to its opposite, where I am right now. I’ve spent the last two weeks setting up three significant plot developments in my novel, Suzanne’s Secrets–three engaging storylines that will hopefully have the reader glued to the book to find what happens next. That’s good.

Unfortunately, I, the storyteller, am also glued to the book wondering the very same thing. That’s not so good.

It would be so easy to walk away, to shut my computer and go clean the bathrooms; or unpack the dozens of boxes that are stacked in the garage leftover from our recent move; or run the errands that must be accomplished today; or put my efforts to other things on a very long list.

As you can probably guess, writing a blog post is one of those diversions.

This is what makes the difference between someone who wants to be a writer and has started a book but only gotten 20-50-100 pages in, and someone who has seen a story all the way to its conclusion. It doesn’t mean you’re a great writer, it just means you have the ability to finish what you start. It means you can overcome the urge to give up.

So how do I do this? What tools do I have to work through the problem? Well, I am a writer, and a compulsive list maker. I am a very visual person, having to see something written down to remember it. Writing is the way to go. Listing is the way to go. Creating a visual is the way to go.

I’m going to make a chart with all of my current plot lines in separate columns, with the first column being the overall story arc. I can put my goal/conclusion below the grid, knowing that all the aspects of the story must lead to that end point.

I still have more work to do, but that exercise helped get me in the right mindset. Wish me luck…