Confessions of a Neglectful Writer

I think that I took too much time off of writing. I didn’t mean to but it just kind of happened. It’s been long enough that I don’t feel connected enough to any of my stories that I can write even a simple 250 words for a snapshot of the life of a single character. I’ve been a neglectful writer. I have a list of stories that are in various stages of writing: mostly finished first draft, partly finished first draft, fully outlined, bare bones outlined, fleshed out idea, and one sentence story concept. I think that I need to change how I write to be more effective and more focused. I’ve developed a method to try that I know will work better than the flailing I have been doing. Changing how I write will be hard work but I know that I will come out on the other side as a better and more consistent writer. I may write with an outline but in effect, I’ve still been a “pantser”. I’ve learned from NaNoWriMo that I can write a novel in a month but I need to fine tune my writing process so that after a month, I can still be writing and working on the novel. I know that spending more time in advance building the characters and the world will make writing flow easier for me even though the temptation for me is to just envision a concept and sit down to write while it is still shiny and new. I’ve been a neglectful writer and I know that I can do better.