How many of you do as I do - you have at least three books begun and have yet to finish one? But wait! Another idea comes to mind, and you're off on a wonderful adventure to create profound themes, fascinating plots, breath-taking settings and amazing characters. You spend hours or days using the Internet to come up with just the right names for each character. You complete worksheets about your characters' interests, heights, weights, careers, backgrounds and hair color. You fill out charts so there won't be any holes in your plot. You devise clever sub-plots. You research every scrap of history or location you can find. You may even (gasp) write a few chapters.
You continue to make notes to improve the plot as you sit in the doctor's office. You tell those around you about the book you're writing. They are as enthused as you are. You begin to envision the book rights bought and your work made into a movie. Life is good.
Then it hits. The blahs. You skip a day or two of writing or research. You may feel overwhelmed with the research, or you may simply become bored with the whole thing. You consider starting over, and you rewrite the first chapter in order to take the whole thing in a different direction. Nothing fits anymore, even though you've outlined the entire book. You print out what you've written so far and put it in a nice 3-ring binder with all of your notes stuck into the front and back pockets. It goes on a shelf - with the others.
Are you not meant to be a writer? Are you too creative, enjoying the creative process more than the tedious reality of following through with the actual writing of the book? Has the perfect combination of plot and characters not hit you yet?
Just what's the problem here? Whatever it is, I'm with you. Sigh.
