this is a serious question because I'm wondering if I will ever finish the redrafting of this novel. After about two hours or so of working on the book I find myself actually nodding off at my laptop, I am so mentally drained I have to leave it for a while and detach from it completely. now I would love to know is this just me or is it something others out there have to cope with. this is day time work by the way not in the middle of the night like it used to be.
Regards Paul
Nobody's past it, Paul!
It's good that you're enjoying your work - I've been on a rewrite for a year, and I'm still in love with my characters and their situation.
It's important that you vary your sitting position, change your focus so that your eyes can have a little work-out, and from time to time do a few stretches so that you stay alert. You'll feel less tired as a result - exercise is good for the brain too.
Above all, have fun! Lorraine
Thank you Lorraine. No I don't run screaming from the book lol, and it is never ever a chore but I do understand what you are saying. I think that once I start I can't and don't want to stop, I love what I do, as I'm sure we all do that contribute here, my problem it seems is I stay too long without a break because I become engrossed with the story and see where the improvements can be made, I enjoy it too much it would seem. It has now been pointed out that two hours none stop is over the top, I thought it was just me and maybe at last I'm passed it, I hope not I feel I have a few more stories to tell yet.
Thank you Lorraine, my Regards, Paul
If you are nodding off, you need a complete break. You won't see your errors, you won't want to do the same thing again tomorrow, and you are in danger of seeing your work as a penance.
That means that your readers may well feel the same way - it will translate into your prose.
Go and do something else for a few days. Then step back from the nitty gritty of your WIP and make some fresh notes on the plot: where it starts, where you think it is going, who is important and who is sacrificial - all the sort of things that form the bones upon which you have hung the story. See it as a whole, not as each paragraph to be scrutinised word by word.
If you are having to mete out your redrafting in measured chunks of time, and then run screaming to the nearest tea pot/pub, you have lost touch with it and why you wanted to write it in the first place. Give yourself a break!