How Writing is Like Riding a Bicycle? by Kait Carson

Hi Peeps! I love Peeps, and since it’s spring and they are beginning to appear in stores, I thought I’d throw that in. By the way, after years of scientific testing, yellow chick Peeps are the best. So are discounted books.

 

To celebrate the re-release of Death by Sunken Treasure, I’m offering Death by Blue Water at $0.99 for a limited time.

 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

You might have noticed that 2023 has been a banner year for me in terms of publication. Two novels, two anthologies, and one serial novella after a desert dry seven-year stretch of relative nothingness. How did I do that? Well, to paraphrase a movie title – Kait got her groove back!

 

Writing a novel is hard work and distractions are plentiful. When I lost my job in 2020, I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought I had finally achieved the one thing I had ALWAYS claimed to want. Uninterrupted writing time. Then I took a look at my wanna do list of story ideas and vapor locked. It was long, intimidating, and I didn’t know where to start. Like the dog who chased the car, what did I do now that I caught it?

 

I had five story ideas shouting my name that I’d backburnered while I worked twelve-hour days. Then there was the one I’d begun when I broke my wrist. Where to start? I picked out my favorite idea, noodled around, dug out notes, outlined, sketched characters, toyed with inciting incidents, and then did it all over again with the next idea. Half first chapters filled my Scrivener files. Nothing meshed, nothing flowed. Even blogs became a trial. I’d forgotten how to write. Imposter syndrome, meet performance anxiety.

 

It took a while to figure out the problem. Writing, I discovered, is like riding a bicycle. We all rode as kids, right? Have you tried riding as an adult? Those first few miles are a bit on the wobbly side. Then you hit your stride. Somewhere between mile one and five, you’re even comfortable enough to take your hands off the handlebars and trust your muscle memory.

 

The first book I wrote after my self-imposed hiatus was both fun and torture. Nothing flowed, I’d forgotten the conventions of my genre, and I’d followed so many rabbit holes it’s amazing the book ever saw the end. Writing was the important thing at this point. It didn’t matter that it was lousy, it mattered that words were populating the page. Gradually, somewhere in the middle of the second book, things changed. Words and scenes came, not easily, they rarely do, but cohesively. My characters took over, or I had the sense to listen to them. My forced “if this then what happens next” questions became, “Hey, main character, now what are you going to do?” They didn’t fail me.

 

It's still not easy, but writing now feels right and comfortable. I’m learning to budget my time between new words, edits of old, marketing, and having a blast doing it all. Yep, Kait’s got her groove back.

 

Readers and writers, how do you get your groove back?

Kait Carson is the author of two series set in the steamy tropical heat of Florida. The Catherine Swope series is set in greater Miami, and the Hayden Kent series is set in, and under, the Fabulous Florida Keys. A new series is in the works, the Maine Lodge mysteries, paying homage to Kait’s current state of residence.

Like her protagonists, Kait is an accomplished SCUBA diver, hiker, and critter lover. She lives with her husband, four rescue cats and a flock of conures in the Crown of Maine where long, dark, nights give birth to flights of fictional fantasies.

You can reach Kait and sign up for her newsletter at www.kaitcarson.com.