Detachment

I finished chapter 6 today, coming in above my word count goal. But I've been pondering something.

I don't feel emotionally attached to this new project. I mean, yes, my heart pounds at the exciting places like it is supposed to, and I love my characters and the world they're in but... I don't know what it is.

I wrote project 2 in a flurry of inspiration, scrambling to get it all down on paper while it was still hot in my brain. Sure, I outlined the chapters first, but even that was a trial and error process, figuring out what worked and what didn't. I stumbled a lot, and blundered my way through unknown places, but it came out good in the end.

With project 3, I made extensive notes, did research, made most of my outline way in advance. And now, I more feel like I'm following a map with the trail well marked. I don't know that it's a bad feeling, per se, just different than my previous experiences.

It's also possible that I feel this way because, while I wrote project 2 only when the inspiration hit me, I'm forcing myself to write on project 3 whether I "feel" it or not. It's going to do wonders for my word count and progress, but I wonder if it adds some distance as well.

I suppose part of me has believed that I would eventually find the method that "worked" for me, and I would stick to the same process for every book that followed. But maybe it will always be a work in progress, and what worked for project 5 won't work for project 8 and project 189 will have to be done in some completely off-the-wall manner.

Meh. I'm rambling. It's the allergy meds talking, maybe.