☀️It Dawned on Me… {#14}
Managing the murky middle; what's cooking? taco soup
Managing the Murky Middle
I haven’t updated you about writing my novel lately because I hit a wall at the end of August. An unrealistic self-imposed deadline, family issues, and the approach of my daughter’s wedding filled my headspace and crowded out all else. The friend who’s been my first reader, trading new chapters for feedback in a black binder on Sundays, wondered what happened to me. I wondered too.
I didn’t stop listening to writing podcasts, researching, reading craft books, and meeting with my writing group on Zoom twice a month, but my characters and my story didn’t dominate my thoughts and dreams. Although I had 30K words on paper, I didn’t wake up with fresh ideas or new storylines.
One day I heard a podcast interview that changed my outlook. The author of a new book said she’d stalled out in the middle—at approximately the same point I was—and didn’t think she could finish. She actually asked her publisher if she could return her book advance. That’s pretty desperate. And then the author conducting the interview said she’d done the exact same thing.
Hold on! Is this normal?
Yes, it is. There’s a name for it: the murky (or muddy) middle.
I know when I’ve reached the middle of my work-in-progress. My writing becomes slower, and slower, and slower. The excitement I once felt for my characters has waned, and my plot has veered off into another galaxy that wasn’t part of my original outline. Frustration sets in, and I’m ready to hit the delete key on my entire manuscript. I’ve entered the muddy middle, and not even chocolate will get me back to my computer.
You might not be writing a novel, but you’re probably familiar with the feeling of starting something with wild enthusiasm, making headway, and then losing steam and fizzling out. I think it happens to most of us. The more excited we were the more progress we’ve made, and therefore the more devastating it feels when we sputter, like the exhilaration when a sparkler catches fire and the letdown when it reaches the end of the stick. 😞
I’m not writing at the pace I was in August, but I’m back on track. I’m adding characters and fleshing out vague storylines. I wake up with ideas for connecting plot points. I wrote my way out of two chapters that had sucked me down like quicksand (I wish I’d set them aside sooner to circle back later; it would have helped). Giving myself grace and not giving up made the difference.
Are you in the murky middle of something? Hang in there and don’t lose hope.
What’s Cooking? Taco Soup 🥣
A few weeks ago I had a craving for taco soup, so I went to the store and stocked up on ingredients for this recipe. When I realized none of our kids would be home that night, I invited my sister and her fiancé (now husband) over.
{Speaking of my sister’s wedding, we got a photo with most of our children there!⬇}
I’ve already made this taco soup multiple times this fall. It warms you up on a cold night, the recipe isn’t complicated, and there’s enough for leftovers. Pick up a bag of tortilla chips when you make it (On the Border are the best!).
Let me know if this soup saves you on a cold December night when you don’t much feel like cooking. 😉
