Keep Trying!

After I published "First on My List" (It's available here, by the way), I took a little time off from writing to reconnect at home and to give the words a rest. When I came back to storytelling, I found I was in a bit of a slump.
It was difficult to form scenes and have the characters doing interesting stuff. What came out when I sat down at the computer was rote descriptions that got the job done, but only just. Pivotal scenes where characters learn an awful truth or have to make terrible choices were almost - but not quite - as interesting as watching red paint dry on white roses.
At first I was disheartened, thinking I'd lost my grasp on the characters. Then I decided to plow through and see what I could salvage. It turns out, there was a lot I could save.
In one scene, I had two characters chasing someone around in a warehouse, neither one of them knowing exactly what strange thing was about to befall them. The scene flowed from A to B and ended with C, setting us up for the next bit, which would be D.
But it was dull and lifeless. It in no way matched the fear and then the wonder that had to be in that scene.
I did not delete what I'd written. Instead I added several spaces at the top of the page and started adding dialog. I found I still had a grasp on Vivian's character, because while I needed her to go along with what the other character was asking, she was holding back. I had to jump in as the other character and convince her to go. What came out was electric and snappy, with the two bickering back and forth. There were minor threats and veiled insults landing all around.
Then I nixed the warehouse idea and put them in a more open place. Instead of having neither knowing what was happening, I had one knowing exactly what was going on and the other having just the faintest idea.
Then I let their different experiences guide them along their paths until the scene played out in a way far different than I'd imagined, but still led us to point D, where the next scene had to start.
What I got was so much peppier and entertaining than where I'd started.
I had another scene last night that fell so flat I wanted to scrap the whole book. I decided to give it a second go.
This time, I kept the setting, but changed up the way things were happening. The conversation unfolded almost in the opposite order it had originally and by adding frustrating distractions for one of them, when the final part of the discussion happened (still at the end, same as the first pass), it felt like it belonged there and wasn't just the writer saying "OK. We're setting up this next part."
In short, I'm saying don't be afraid to write badly. There's always time to get it right.
If you want to write, there is still only one rule.
Write.