The 5 Stages of Writing #ThinkyThursdays 14

Hello, and welcome to my blog today. So I am just coming up to finishing the first draft of my new novel, so all I seem to be thinking about at the moment is writing. Hence my choice for Thinky Thursdays 14:

The 5 Stages of Writing

We all know there are five stages of grief, but there are five stages of writing too - I kid you not. Well, at least according to me there are ;). This is how I see them.

1) Oh hell, what am I going to write now?

This is what I mentally refer to as the "brain freeze" moment. It's when we writers sit down at a keyboard to begin to compose our new great work and every thought we have ever had flies out of out minds.

• That epic space opera with the weird spindly aliens - GONE!
• The perfect romance with the capable heroine and the dashing hero who needs rescuing - SKEDADDLED!
• The YA with the feisty protagonist not in a hopeless love triangle - EATEN BY EDWARD CULLEN'S WORST NIGHTMARE!

It's like a bad dream as the tumble weeds bounce across our brains. Will it never end?

2) This is awesome!

Of course stage one doesn't last forever - we're writers! We're doing this because if we don't write things our brains overflow and we do strange things like wander around muttering random bits of dialogue. That can scare people - especially if it happens to be "I will kill you".

Stage 2 is often the most fun, at least I think so. It's when the creative juices are really flowing and we're churning out words like there is no tomorrow. JK Rowling and Stephen King have nothing on us!

3) OMG - how am I suppose write this?

Stage 3 is often the worst. This is where the story seems to have turned into a black hole. No matter what we throw into it, nothing comes back to us.

• Scenes just laugh at us as we cannot figure out how to move the plot from A to B.
• Chapters stare at us with words like "need more information in here - it doesn't make sense".
• Housework suddenly looks incredibly inviting.

This is where procrastination can get us. Where a black hole not even Stephen Hawking can save us from, wants to eat us alive. Our only choice is to push on and endure.

4) Yay, the finish line is in sight!

Now stages 2 and 3 can repeat and mingle for some time, but eventually we get to stage 4. This is where the end is in sight. Just that last chapter for us to write or that final scene to go. We know that editing and rewriting come next, but who cares?! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

The feeling of accomplishment starts to set in and that big smile begins to take over our faces. We've done it and we're allowed our little dance of joy.

5) Oh, it's done, what do I do now?

Then finally we have stage 5. We have struggled, we have procrastinated, we have searched our souls ... and now it's done.

This thing that had eaten our life is finished. It is whole. We have birthed a new creation ... well at least until we pick it up again to read it after a few weeks and have to rip it to pieces before our editor does the same.

Our creative drive is spent and we must ask, what do we do now?

Of course there's always stage 1 waiting for us after we've had a nice cup of tea ;).

Do you have stages of writing? Which is your favourite and which the worst?