I have often heard and read that the key to being successful at writing is writing every day, making sure to set out a block period of time to make sure that you write. Hemingway blocked out four hours each day. He would revise for the first two hours what he'd written the previous day and then he would write for two hours. Clearly, that worked for him.
I use him as a base of reference, not as a comparison, when I say I cannot, and will not, do that.
There have been been several times in my life where I have written every day for hundreds of thousands of words. If I gained any benefit from that, it was from the mechanics, perhaps. While some might offer that writing daily helped me find my groove, I would counter that it also helped me dig a rut.
At this point, I should be very clear: I'm not opposed to writing every day, or writing massive quantities. What I am opposed to is forcing myself to write when I am not inspired or in the creative mindset.
I have a creative mind, or perhaps simply I have an ability for creativity. That being said, my mind is not always in a position to create. There's a time for living and there's a time for writing and when I'm not in a place, mentally, to write, I don't force it. I can't force it.
If I'm not writing a journalistic or autobiographical piece, I will simply wait. Creatively, I find my periods of not writing, "regular life", to be almost as helpful as when I am writing. I never really know when "creative mode" is going to get switched on. Something, or someone, will strike me out of the blue and then I try to take advantage of it until it runs out. My best comes when I am irritated or agitated by something and have to get it out. It builds and builds, until it bursts out. Even then, once I finally have the idea, it doesn't all come out at once, necessarily.
My usual problem is not that I do not know what to write, but, rather, I know what I want to say but not how I want to say it. As I know what I want to say, I could bolt it on, but that is the mechanical fix. I want organic. I want it to be grown, not built/manufactured. Thus, when I get "Writer's Block", I stop writing.
As I don't write for a living, I can afford to be patient. I'm aware of my stalled project(s) when I have gotten stumped and walked away from it/them. I may even continue to write at that time, just about other things. I've come to trust that, even when not actively thinking about them, my subconscious is testing all of my experiences against my problem. For me, thinking and observing, and not writing to write, are the best path forward.
I wrote "...this...country" in about three hours. The short story that I'm trying to get published, "Homecoming", I wrote over the course of a week. That was over a year ago and it's my last completed short story. I have another, much longer, story on the shelf until it is ready to be completed. I have gone months and years on projects, waiting for "creative mode" to kick in over long periods of "regular" life. I wrote my novel over the course of three years, typically in week or two week bursts (And typically when away on vacation, because the somewhat pleasant distraction of menial tasks and mucking about with friends are the killers of my writing).
If I feel very strongly about the project, it usually doesn't take very long for the path forward to pop in. Sometimes, it does take a long time. Sometimes, I do not finish and the project dies. Hell, if I'm being honest, most times the project dies. And I am absolutely fine with that. Because what tends to happen on the ones that die is that later they get repurposed and used for new projects. Until, ultimately, I put out something I was inspired to write and that was meant to live, I will wait.
The poem I did about sailing came about from me thinking for a very long time on how I wanted to tell the story of getting caught in a storm on the ocean with my friends this past June. It was in the back of my mind for months and months. I assumed it would be a multi-thousand-word first-person-narrative short story or essay (and it still might). Instead, it came out as a poem in the course of an hour, and all the hellish fear and terror that I felt over the hours at sea was mostly left out, or perhaps was distilled and molded into an experience that I didn't necessarily have, but that was true for me nonetheless. It became what it needed to be.
I've been "switched on" for about a month now, since a new friend sent me some of her writings, which is why I've posted a lot more than usual on here. For the past week, I had been working on a new story that was going along quickly and smoothly until I hit that "how do I want to say that" point. I was even talking to another friend about it last night. I slept on it and, POOF, the way forward popped in my head this morning as I was dressing. I suspect I'll be finished later today or tonight and that it will be one that I will try to publish.
I have babbled on and on about this for a reason (besides narcissism...well, mostly). If you're an attempting writer, see what works for you. If the discipline to write is really what you're lacking, so be it; write every day. Block out your time. If that's not it though, I would recommend patience, and I would tell you that it's okay not to be writing. Living is preparing to write so you can launch into it once you're ready.
I use him as a base of reference, not as a comparison, when I say I cannot, and will not, do that.
There have been been several times in my life where I have written every day for hundreds of thousands of words. If I gained any benefit from that, it was from the mechanics, perhaps. While some might offer that writing daily helped me find my groove, I would counter that it also helped me dig a rut.
At this point, I should be very clear: I'm not opposed to writing every day, or writing massive quantities. What I am opposed to is forcing myself to write when I am not inspired or in the creative mindset.
I have a creative mind, or perhaps simply I have an ability for creativity. That being said, my mind is not always in a position to create. There's a time for living and there's a time for writing and when I'm not in a place, mentally, to write, I don't force it. I can't force it.
If I'm not writing a journalistic or autobiographical piece, I will simply wait. Creatively, I find my periods of not writing, "regular life", to be almost as helpful as when I am writing. I never really know when "creative mode" is going to get switched on. Something, or someone, will strike me out of the blue and then I try to take advantage of it until it runs out. My best comes when I am irritated or agitated by something and have to get it out. It builds and builds, until it bursts out. Even then, once I finally have the idea, it doesn't all come out at once, necessarily.
My usual problem is not that I do not know what to write, but, rather, I know what I want to say but not how I want to say it. As I know what I want to say, I could bolt it on, but that is the mechanical fix. I want organic. I want it to be grown, not built/manufactured. Thus, when I get "Writer's Block", I stop writing.
As I don't write for a living, I can afford to be patient. I'm aware of my stalled project(s) when I have gotten stumped and walked away from it/them. I may even continue to write at that time, just about other things. I've come to trust that, even when not actively thinking about them, my subconscious is testing all of my experiences against my problem. For me, thinking and observing, and not writing to write, are the best path forward.
I wrote "...this...country" in about three hours. The short story that I'm trying to get published, "Homecoming", I wrote over the course of a week. That was over a year ago and it's my last completed short story. I have another, much longer, story on the shelf until it is ready to be completed. I have gone months and years on projects, waiting for "creative mode" to kick in over long periods of "regular" life. I wrote my novel over the course of three years, typically in week or two week bursts (And typically when away on vacation, because the somewhat pleasant distraction of menial tasks and mucking about with friends are the killers of my writing).
If I feel very strongly about the project, it usually doesn't take very long for the path forward to pop in. Sometimes, it does take a long time. Sometimes, I do not finish and the project dies. Hell, if I'm being honest, most times the project dies. And I am absolutely fine with that. Because what tends to happen on the ones that die is that later they get repurposed and used for new projects. Until, ultimately, I put out something I was inspired to write and that was meant to live, I will wait.
The poem I did about sailing came about from me thinking for a very long time on how I wanted to tell the story of getting caught in a storm on the ocean with my friends this past June. It was in the back of my mind for months and months. I assumed it would be a multi-thousand-word first-person-narrative short story or essay (and it still might). Instead, it came out as a poem in the course of an hour, and all the hellish fear and terror that I felt over the hours at sea was mostly left out, or perhaps was distilled and molded into an experience that I didn't necessarily have, but that was true for me nonetheless. It became what it needed to be.
I've been "switched on" for about a month now, since a new friend sent me some of her writings, which is why I've posted a lot more than usual on here. For the past week, I had been working on a new story that was going along quickly and smoothly until I hit that "how do I want to say that" point. I was even talking to another friend about it last night. I slept on it and, POOF, the way forward popped in my head this morning as I was dressing. I suspect I'll be finished later today or tonight and that it will be one that I will try to publish.
I have babbled on and on about this for a reason (besides narcissism...well, mostly). If you're an attempting writer, see what works for you. If the discipline to write is really what you're lacking, so be it; write every day. Block out your time. If that's not it though, I would recommend patience, and I would tell you that it's okay not to be writing. Living is preparing to write so you can launch into it once you're ready.
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