The hardest part of writing is writing. I never believed this when I was a kid and not even a surgeon was likely to remove a pen from my fingers. However, it seems to me that the main issue with getting to the point of writing has been (for me) the assumption that i can do it at any time.
I mean, if I can write literally anytime, just sit down and go for it...why should I choose this very minute? When the laundry is overflowing? If the dishes are climbing out of the sink, it isn't a good time for writing, right? When a high school friend calls me on a Friday night to say: "Hey, I'm gonna be in town this weekend, you free?" the reaction comes all too easily: "Of course!" and writing is put on hold for a morning, which ends up including the afternoon and then I'd return home to dishes and laundry.
The "not right now" turns into "not today," and can become, "oh...wait, what have I done this week?" all too easily.
Life intrudes, and not until the grumpiness sets in, and stress descends all too easily about things that really shouldn't inspire any level of frustration...not till then do I realize just how essential it is to write Now. For myself, my mood, and my life.
So I get caught up in the planning, when I'm out in the world. Walking down the street, or taking the train into town. My characters make themselves known in my mind when I'm not, that moment, able to write. It's their vengeance, I suppose.
I try to channel the thoughts into notebooks. I plan the world, the story, try out snippets of scenes and short stories. Bits of writing float about, unfinished, to collect on a messy floor.
But that chair. To sit and to write, to focus on this moment...sometimes it takes more will, more insight into self than I have anymore. Sometimes, I am caught up in so many plans, so many obligations, that sometimes keeping the simple pledges that I made to myself get set aside for longer than I mean to.
So here is to simplifying life, to cutting down and back on my obligations. Here's to renewing my commitment to myself, my writing--and my chair.
Yippeee!! SO very proud of you! I can see where you're coming from. For me it's the other way around. I'd turn down other things just so I can write because life takes me away from my writing. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteLet use know how your writing ventures go!
♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
Can Alex save Winter from the darkness that hunts her?
YA Paranormal Romance, Darkspell coming fall of 2011!
Mine's the other way around to. But, Drea, you're more determined than most people are if you're writing notes and sketches for plot and character during those moments throughout the day as you've indicated.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem. If I can write anytime, why write right now? Also, when I sit down at the computer and think about writing, my next thought is that I should be doing something more important like sending out job applications. Then when I start doing that, I think, meh, this is boring. I'll go poke around facebook or play some games. So lame! I should use writing as a fun activity.
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