Work? What's That?
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely,
"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
~Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland
Ah, if only it were so easy...
But that's what I'm attempting to do.
(By "attempting" of course, I mean "avoiding while I organize my desk drawers, do laundry, check email, and feed the birds outside bits of bread")
My wordcount has been slowly creeping upwards. S.l.o.w.l.y. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not so much stuck as I am being lazy--a horrible feather to wear in one's writer cap. The formulaic cure is, of course: butt + chair = words. I'm doing my best to stick with it and to not get bummed out at my meager daily wordcount. It'll happen. Slowly, maybe, but surely.
In other happy news, two more wonderful authors have agreed to take a look at Eighth Grade Bites! They're both amazing, but one in particular really made me squeal with delight. So, with any luck, at least some of the seven people who are reading my book will like it enough to say some kind words. I hope, anyway. I mean, what are the odds they'd insult me? *worried glance at her email notifier* You...you don't think they'd do that, do you?
*sigh* Great. Another thing to obsess over while I avoid real work. ;)
"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
~Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland
Ah, if only it were so easy...
But that's what I'm attempting to do.
(By "attempting" of course, I mean "avoiding while I organize my desk drawers, do laundry, check email, and feed the birds outside bits of bread")
My wordcount has been slowly creeping upwards. S.l.o.w.l.y. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not so much stuck as I am being lazy--a horrible feather to wear in one's writer cap. The formulaic cure is, of course: butt + chair = words. I'm doing my best to stick with it and to not get bummed out at my meager daily wordcount. It'll happen. Slowly, maybe, but surely.
In other happy news, two more wonderful authors have agreed to take a look at Eighth Grade Bites! They're both amazing, but one in particular really made me squeal with delight. So, with any luck, at least some of the seven people who are reading my book will like it enough to say some kind words. I hope, anyway. I mean, what are the odds they'd insult me? *worried glance at her email notifier* You...you don't think they'd do that, do you?
*sigh* Great. Another thing to obsess over while I avoid real work. ;)
posted by Heather Brewer at 7:03 AM
4 Comments:
Ya know... word count is what it is, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. Sitting down and forcing youself to write, no matter what you think of the writing, is the sign of a professional. You are _doing_ what you know you should. If the inspiration is not there, then so-be-it. The inspiration is in the creation of the story in the first place. The rest is a lot of elbow-grease. That si why it is work and why not so many people do it.
It may be that the procrastination is brought on by a fear of having to produce another story "as good or better" than your first one. It is a lot of pressure to have to deal with while in the creative process. But hte fear of success can be just as damaging as the fear of failure, if not more. No one talks about fear of success. There aren't books and seminars on it. You are "expected" to keep producing successes after you have your first. That is a big "expected", especially when it comes to art and publishing.
Maybe it is time to sit down and work out what it is that keeps you from doing the thing that you love so much. Maybe you need to come to terms with success.
Wise words from a wise man. I think it boils down to two things for me. 1) expectations--that people will come to expect things from me that I fear I can't deliver again and again. and 2) criticism--I'm pretty good at handling criticism, but a small part of me will forever be that kid in high school that everyone picked on.
I think the answer, for me, is pushing through despite my fears and doubts. Because hey, if I don't work hard at this career, I won't have it. And that's something I fear far worse than expectations and criticism.
Well, you wouldn't have gotten to where you are by writing poorly... and chances are that the more you write the better your craft becomes... so the fear of success is really kind of a silly one.
One of the things that I learned during NaNoWriMo was that you need to allow yourself to write badly in order to be able to create freely. Editing will remove the bad bits. But you need to give yourself the space to write badly so that you are free to write well.
Lastly, there is a big difference between working hard, and working at work. If you give your self the space to love what you do, outside of all other considerations, then it will never appear as work. It is when you apply all the considerations and doubts and fears to what you love that it turns into work.
Thus endeth the zen momnet for the day :)
Couldn't agree more. :)
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