You know when you meet up with an old school friend you haven’t seen in years, and you don’t always pick up where you left off?

Yeah, it can be like that when you first get back into your fiction.

It can feel awkward and forced and make you really uncomfortable.

This isn’t a sign you need to give up, it’s just a sign of teething problems. It’s perfectly natural.

Push through the awkwardness—it may take a bit—and write, even if you end up writing for the sake of writing.

You can always fix the crappy writing later.

Right now it’s about getting into the right mindset to work on your fiction again.

The only way you can do that is by writing, even if it means writing so badly you’re embarrassed to show it to your dog.