Today is day three of 2014, and I’ve yet to find the motivation to get back to work on my writing. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling apathetic about sitting down at the computer to pound out a couple of thousand words on a manuscript, or maybe putting off working on edits or rewrites. Have I given up completely on writing?

I hope this is temporary, and that I’ll find my mojo soon. I’m ready to get back to work, or I should say I’m ready to feel excited about wanting to write. I know I need to sit down and write, but the story I’m working on is a dead-end, again. I don’t like the main characters and I hate where the story is heading. I’ve shelved that project for the time being.

Now I’m left without a project to work on, and I’m feeling guilty about it. I’m thinking about resurrecting my first attempt at a novel, which I wrote as my first NaNoWriMo novel back in 2011. Funny how I can’t let 2011 go.

Son of the Father is about a Catholic Bishop who one day finds out he has a grown up son. At least that’s the premise I started with, but that’s not what I wrote. I want to rewrite the whole book so that I am left with what I originally intended. What’s keeping from starting is knowing that most of the original story will have to be sacrificed in order to create that story.

I’m enamored with one particular story arc, and I’m having a hard time letting it go. Bishop Israel Mendoza, prior to becoming a bishop, is a priest in the employ of the Vatican. He meets a woman in need of help, a prostitute who wants out of her situation. In the course of their interactions, they fall in love.

I love the story because it’s so tragic. Love is a wonderful thing, and there’s something about forbidden love that captivates us. I’m just not sure who it ties in to the narrative as a whole. Perhaps the answer is to spin it off and write it as its own book.

I’ll have to give it some thought before I commit myself to it, but it seems to be a good idea. That way I can take it out of my original story without having to lose it completely.