It's time to write a new book. This time without so much ska

Writing is (not) fun

I lost track of how many meltdowns I had while I was writing my book In Defense of Ska. But even when I wasn’t in full meltdown mode, I don’t think I enjoyed the process of writing it. Before I’d written the book, I’d always fantasized about being able to spend long days working on a book and getting lost in the stories. It was that, but also really stressful.

I should preface this by stating that I am a very stressed out, anxious person in general, and I find it difficult to enjoy myself even when I’m doing something I love. This is basically what I tell my therapist every week and she tells me I’m too hard on myself (TMI!) That said, I don’t think I’m entirely off base when I say that writing a non-fiction book is a really stressful endeavor. You are telling a story that is historically factual and doing so in a compelling way—with your own spin on it! So much to juggle in your brain.

A few days ago, I began in earnest, writing a new book. This time, I’m writing a novel. I used to write fiction all the time in my 20s. Then I started writing articles for newspapers and magazines and that took over my life. It led to In Defense of Ska, which I’m very proud of. But somewhere along the way, I shelfed the side of me that was initially drawn to writing in the first place. The part that wanted to create weird worlds and tell bizarre stories.

If memory serves, it may have been fun, even.

I spent months outlining my novel, Little Black Book of Death. I never put this kind of work into preparing to write a piece of fiction, but I’m a different writer now in my 40s than I was in my 20s. You do a lot of organizing and outlining when you write non-fiction. I started writing the first chapter and felt excited but a little bit stressed and I tried to remember what it was like years ago when I created weird worlds that existed only in my brain, how fun that felt.

So, I’m trying to have a whole new attitude with my writing.

Have fun. Be creative. Don’t let the stress take over your mind. So far so good. My therapist will probably be hearing everything about me working on this novel.