Natasha Fondren

I worked all day yesterday, and got nothing done. Well, not nothing, but it sure feels like it. I was making up names. Trying to organize all my characters in charts (thank you, Mind Mapper) so I could keep track of them.

I have seven big characters in this story. It’s mind-boggling, as they all achieve a main character status at some point. I’m juggling their arcs and trying to get it to piece together just so.

Then you add in all the secondary characters, and this is just difficult. I make charts and lists. I have tons of research to do, research that can’t be skipped or saved until later.

But this part of writing makes me feel so unproductive. I like words written. Laurell K. Hamilton has sometimes mentioned that she gets a “writer’s high” much like runners get a runner’s high.

While I sometimes get a research high that’s quickly drowned in guilt, I only get a writer’s high if I actually write prose, about 3,000-5,000 words. Or if I finish something.

So I’m missing writer’s high.

How do you achieve writer’s high? How do you feel productive when you’re mostly thinking and planning and researching instead of writing?