wittering noun
wit·ter·ing ˈwitərə̇n, -riŋ
plural-s
chiefly Scottish
: a piece of information (as a sign, token, or hint)
Etymology
Middle English (Scots) wittering, witering, from gerund of witteren, witeren to clarify, inform, teach, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse vitra to manifest, reveal, vitr wise, vita to know“Wittering.”
— “Wittering.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wittering.
It’s still May 2025 and I’m frankly baffled that I have actual writing and publishing news to share with all of you today. After such a long hiatus where writing was a struggle, and words came out in trickles, I am now beyond stoked to report the floodgates have opened, y’all. Hallellujah and all that jazz!
So what has changed in the last month, you ask? A few things:
MINDSET
I made a pact to FINISH all my current ongoing works. This includes my neglected Harry Potter fanfics (yes, I’m that nerd) on top of my original works. Because, much as I love all of you, I can’t tell you how blooming encouraging it is to hear directly from readers on a daily basis. This is part of why the HP fandom in particular will always have my heart. At the place I’m currently at in my professional career, I don’t get that same one-on-one interraction with readers that I miss. Now, I don’t exactly live for the feedback, but maaaybe I’d love to hear from you now and then even here on the blog: hint, hint 😉
Still, I’m pretty lucky to have a pretty amazing group of people in the fandom who leave me messages and comments every week (sometimes daily), telling me how they’ve been rereading my stories again and begging for me to continue. So I’m treating my mission to complete all the unfinished literary babies on my desktop with equal care and love. It’s funny how you can make goals for yourself, like New Years Resolutions, and never follow through. But something about this goal, for me, this time felt like something I was compelled to do. And it’s made all the difference.
CUTTING OUT DISTRACTIONS
The last time in my life I was able to be serious about writing, I threw myself into it completely. To be fair, I didn’t have children then or a relationship, which makes a huge difference. Still, I threw myself into developing my craft and cut out all the additional needless distractions. For me at the time, it was movies and tv. I just stoppped watching at night and chose to read or write instead. Sounds a little extreme, but it helped boost my productivity exponentially.
This month, I made a similar pact, but this time about video games. I grew up in a gaming family, and have enjoyed gaming off and on over the years (mostly Skyrim, Dragon Age 1-3, Mass Effect, and Fallout). This past year, when life got harder, video games became a way for me to shut my brain off. And at the time, I desperately needed to shut my brain off. I also read books still, but I was writing in trickles. So I finally decided to do what I already knew would be best for me going forward this season: cut out the video games.
Okay, so I still watch movies and shows with my kids. But in the evenings after work, if my family is busy with other things? I hit the books, literally. I’ve started reading about five or so different novels in various formats and genres, chipping away about a chapter a day at a time. And then once my kids are asleep and the house is quiet, or on weekends when I’m able, I write.
RESULTS
Because of the vow I mentioned earlier, I got busy cranking out STORY every chance I got. These are stories of every length you can imagine, covering multiple worlds with multiple storylines. Don’t ask me how I keep it all straight in my head, I’m baffled too.
This is actually a process I found a lot of success with ten years ago. Writing multiple stories has the odd effect of focusing me far better than when I force myself to focus on one project. I wasn’t expecting to suddenly find the creative muse I’d been missing for what feels like years. If I’m lucky, I’ll look back on this period of my life as that time I overcame one of my biggest writing and creative hurdles. Do I think I’ll find greater success with a renewed focus? Absolutely. Why? Because when we throw ourselves into something and work our arses off, we do see results. Results (aka success) for me may look differently than it would for you. If I can begin to successfully churn out two novels a year, and finish all the long unfinished fanworks, that will be more than enough for me. And if I truly get lucky somewhere along the way? Well I certainly won’t turn that gift horse away 😉
TAKEAWAY
Wherever you’re at in your life, I encourage you to take a step off the beaten path. Take a pause and really look at your day-to-day. Is there anything you wish you could change? Is there anything that you can take action on today? Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today. I’ve believed in “carpe diem” ever since the first time I watched Dead Poets Society. Life is too short for us to ignore our dreams, unless you’ve already sacrificed them for something greater than yourself (and that’s more than okay!). But I encourage you today to find time to do the lovely things you love. Maybe do something you haven’t done in years that used to bring you joy. And maybe cut out what isn’t serving you. Sending you love and a little extra creative inspiration today, friend.
An outcast witch, a forgotten prince, and a dark curse…
The fate of the realm rests on her choice: become the beast’s bride or become the monster?
A slow burn that reaches sizzling heights, Wylder Tales is an enemies-to-lovers romantic fairy tale with refreshing twists on the classic tale.
Jennifer Silverwood 
At one time I was writing 4 books at once. I got burnt out bad. I had to stop. All I ended up doing was rewriting and rewriting because I would get a good idea for this book and then this idea for that book. It became chaos. And I’ve done it again. I have new WIPs and I am not even done rewriting or writing my sequel books. I keep making these vows that I’m going to finish one trilogy or series at a time, but then inspiration comes knocking for another story. I just scream. Metaphorically and literally. Sometimes I cry. I just want to be done with my older stories. I wanted to have these books published and successful like in 2018. I can’t blame life events entirely. I became lazy. I lost interest in writing. The rewriting really hurt me. I got bored. But I am slowly getting that love for my books back. Good luck with your writing.
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So sorry to hear you’ve been stuck, Jenn! Don’t be too hard on yourself. Working on multiple projects can be a fantastic motivator, when it works lol. There are other times our brains need to narrow that focus down or it becomes chaos like you said. I’d suggest one of two things when you’re feeling stuck like this.
First, list out all your ongoing projects that you need to finish (especially if you have an unfinished series). Which one is closes to being complete? Start rough outlining that one and see what happens from there, maybe. If you’re lucky, you can start “snowballing” your old projects that way. Rough outlining scenes has been one of the best methods to help push me ahead, so maybe that will work for you?
The next thing you could try is to stick all your ongoing projects in the proverbial shelf. Maybe you’re struggling because something about the story or characters, etc. just isn’t “right.” Then, I’d suggest looking at what you’re most excited to read/watch these days. What kind of story do you really feel passionate about? Write something similar that you would love. It may even be that you can take elements from each of your unfinished works and cobble together something new.
Revisions are fine, but they can truly bog you down, too. They’re not right for everyone. The best advice I ever got was to ignore that need at the back of your mind to update old works (I didn’t follow my own advice lol), and create something new.
Writing novels is a wonderful but also often painful process. We’re in our heads a lot and sometimes we have to knock ourselves in the head a bit to push past those blocks. Don’t give up, though, I’m sure you’ll get through this and find that joy again! Sending you all the luck and good vibes meanwhile 🙂
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