Learning…
I must have read hundreds of articles, posts, magazines and books about writing. I’ve never found one I disagree with. All of them inspired me in some way. Yet, I still sit here in a quandary, not writing, staring at a page, wondering how to break through the latest problem.
This isn’t the fault of all those helpful pieces. It is of course, my fault. There isn’t a post on this planet that will sit me down in front of a screen and help or make me work through the problem. That is all in my head.
Do I have time to write? Hell yes. I will always maintain that anyone who says they have no time is mistaken. I have said this many times and I was wrong. You can be in your tidy home, all day every day, with no money worries and nothing pressing that you have to do and you will STILL say you have no time – if you don’t want to do it.
Same with reading. If the book you’re reading becomes a chore, you put it down and it doesn’t enter your head to open it.
My solution with that particular reading issue, has been to start a new book and not look back. I have no doubts that I have missed out on greatness because of this and I will never advise others to do the same. How you can ever know which books you should force yourself to persevere with, and which to walk away from, I do not know.
And this is my quandary with writing too. It amounts to the same thing.
When I am loving a story that I am writing, it feels exactly the same to me as reading a great book. I will find time to open a laptop and write. I will turn off the radio in the car so I can think about it. I’ll even wake up early so I can get on with it. This has impacted my work, my family, the house etc, because that becomes my focus.
What happens when you are up to your neck in a story that you have problems with? Maybe you’re not clear on the story, or the history, or how it all fits together. Perhaps some of the characters aren’t working for you. It could be a lot of things.
My solution has been to write something else, just to keep writing. I have done this and I now have several short pieces begun or at the editing stage.
Yet, this doesn’t work either, because there is a gravity associated with stories. I had no idea this was true. When something is implanted so deep in your mind, there is no way you can move on until it is requited. Afterwards, you might put it in a drawer and start on something else, but until you finish it, you are stuck.
I am writing this blog – not just to get away from trying to write the story, but also as a reminder to myself about when I first encountered this problem and what I think the solution is. I will in the next five weeks attempt to fix this problem using the new solution.
I believe the solution is to force myself to write more.
This is crazy – right?
OK, here is my reasoning. I am now writing the least number of words per week that I have written in well over a year. It is because I am not happy with the story. I don’t feel like getting on with it because it is difficult, but I can’t get away from the story either. I have three other pieces that I am loving, but I can’t get to them because this gravity is pulling me down into the abyss. I feel a metaphor coming on.
I feel that, instead of fighting the gravity, I need to embrace it and write more. I should accelerate towards this story black hole, and when I have built up enough speed, I can fly right by it. Or, without the metaphor, I will finish the story in some way or other. Either I will see potential in it at that point, or I can bin it, but in either case, I should be able to move on.
When I say that I am writing the least number of words per week, it is not quite true. I’ve written about three decent short story lengths in development, most of two Essence stories, a third that I’ve dropped for now as it no longer fits and two other fairly short, short stories. More accurately, it’s the least amount of words I have written that I can publish for a while. Also, I definitely write a lot more when I am loving it and there are no problems.
I’ll see in due course what the right and wrong of this is, but for now, I have to force myself to write more until I get more perspective.
The good news is, that all the development work this weekend has lifted my spirits with these stories and I do want to break through again. The even better news is that I will have much more time until the end of March at least, to write.
Then again, I have spent this afternoon working on my website and blog instead of writing. Maybe that should tell me something too. :)
I must have read hundreds of articles, posts, magazines and books about writing. I’ve never found one I disagree with. All of them inspired me in some way. Yet, I still sit here in a quandary, not writing, staring at a page, wondering how to break through the latest problem.
This isn’t the fault of all those helpful pieces. It is of course, my fault. There isn’t a post on this planet that will sit me down in front of a screen and help or make me work through the problem. That is all in my head.
Do I have time to write? Hell yes. I will always maintain that anyone who says they have no time is mistaken. I have said this many times and I was wrong. You can be in your tidy home, all day every day, with no money worries and nothing pressing that you have to do and you will STILL say you have no time – if you don’t want to do it.
Same with reading. If the book you’re reading becomes a chore, you put it down and it doesn’t enter your head to open it.
My solution with that particular reading issue, has been to start a new book and not look back. I have no doubts that I have missed out on greatness because of this and I will never advise others to do the same. How you can ever know which books you should force yourself to persevere with, and which to walk away from, I do not know.
And this is my quandary with writing too. It amounts to the same thing.
When I am loving a story that I am writing, it feels exactly the same to me as reading a great book. I will find time to open a laptop and write. I will turn off the radio in the car so I can think about it. I’ll even wake up early so I can get on with it. This has impacted my work, my family, the house etc, because that becomes my focus.
What happens when you are up to your neck in a story that you have problems with? Maybe you’re not clear on the story, or the history, or how it all fits together. Perhaps some of the characters aren’t working for you. It could be a lot of things.
My solution has been to write something else, just to keep writing. I have done this and I now have several short pieces begun or at the editing stage.
Yet, this doesn’t work either, because there is a gravity associated with stories. I had no idea this was true. When something is implanted so deep in your mind, there is no way you can move on until it is requited. Afterwards, you might put it in a drawer and start on something else, but until you finish it, you are stuck.
I am writing this blog – not just to get away from trying to write the story, but also as a reminder to myself about when I first encountered this problem and what I think the solution is. I will in the next five weeks attempt to fix this problem using the new solution.
I believe the solution is to force myself to write more.
This is crazy – right?
OK, here is my reasoning. I am now writing the least number of words per week that I have written in well over a year. It is because I am not happy with the story. I don’t feel like getting on with it because it is difficult, but I can’t get away from the story either. I have three other pieces that I am loving, but I can’t get to them because this gravity is pulling me down into the abyss. I feel a metaphor coming on.
I feel that, instead of fighting the gravity, I need to embrace it and write more. I should accelerate towards this story black hole, and when I have built up enough speed, I can fly right by it. Or, without the metaphor, I will finish the story in some way or other. Either I will see potential in it at that point, or I can bin it, but in either case, I should be able to move on.
When I say that I am writing the least number of words per week, it is not quite true. I’ve written about three decent short story lengths in development, most of two Essence stories, a third that I’ve dropped for now as it no longer fits and two other fairly short, short stories. More accurately, it’s the least amount of words I have written that I can publish for a while. Also, I definitely write a lot more when I am loving it and there are no problems.
I’ll see in due course what the right and wrong of this is, but for now, I have to force myself to write more until I get more perspective.
The good news is, that all the development work this weekend has lifted my spirits with these stories and I do want to break through again. The even better news is that I will have much more time until the end of March at least, to write.
Then again, I have spent this afternoon working on my website and blog instead of writing. Maybe that should tell me something too. :)