As a writer, I am supposed to write every day. But I don't. Even when I am "in the zone" I don't write every day. Sometimes life gets in the way. Right now, my regular life is busy and, if I am to be perfectly honest, I am still ticked off about the rejection from the agent, so I am not writing. That is not to say that I am not thinking. Personally, thinking about writing can be just as helpful as forcing myself to write. Sometimes, when I force myself to write, all I get is garbage. I know, I know that we all have to get through the garbage to get to the good stuff, but I find it unproductive to write what I KNOW is garbage just for the sake of writing. Lots of times I'll write whole chapters and then discover that it's garbage. That's part of the process. I know that. But writing what I know is bad just to say I wrote doesn't seem worth it. So, as I said, right now I'm not writing, I'm thinking.
My character is alive and well in my head. She's having conversations, adventures, and meeting other characters. Some of what's going on in my head is garbage and will never see the light of a computer screen, but some of it isn't half bad. It will get written down when life slows down....maybe next week.
Summer is always my slow season, my excuse used to be that the kids were home from school, but now only is one is home and he doesn't exactly need me to make his lunch and snacks (although he might like that). I am not sure why I find it difficult to write in the summer, maybe it's simply that there is more action in the house which I'm not use to. I usually write when no one is around. Maybe I still function on an academic calendar and now that it's summer my mind has gone on vacation. It might be that I'm feeling morose about the rejection and wondering what the point is. It might be all those things. But whatever the reason for my lack of productivity, I'm not feeling bad about it. I know I'll write again.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Writing Every Day
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
ReplyDelete--Vladimir Nabokov
My working habits are simple: long periods of thinking, short periods of writing.--Ernest Hemingway
ReplyDeleteWhenever I get the urge to write, I always lie down, until it goes away. --Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI don't think I can say it better than Nabokov or Hemingway, but I definitely agree that thinking is as much a part of the writing as the physical putting your butt in the seat part. I find when I'm really on fire with something I HAVE to write everyday. But when I'm stuck on something, sitting and staring at a blank computer screen is more frustrating than say, going to the movies or hitting the pool. I think you have to give your muse a break now and then in order to breathe. Or whatever it is muses like to do.
ReplyDeleteJust remember to take notes when you are thinking. It's always nice to have something on paper to draw from when you do sit down to write, and I, for one, forget even the best ideas sometimes unless they are written down.
ReplyDelete