Friday, October 19, 2007

A Constant Struggle?

Here's one thing that I've recently learned about writing (okay, maybe not recently, but you get what I mean). No matter how many times you pick yourself up from a bad writing day or no matter how many times you remind yourself to shut off the internal editor when you're writing your first draft, you're going to keep doing it.

Here's what I mean.

I've immersed myself in craft for the past two months. I've studied books, worked on my outline, and prepared myself to write. Now that I'm actually in the writing stage, I'm having a hard time shutting off that internal editor.

Is this the first time this has happened? Absolutely not. Will it be the last? Nope.

Our writing personas are constantly in flux. One day we'll have no problem zipping through our daily word count or coming up with an awesome turn of phrase. The next we'll have a gremlin jumping up and down on our fingers, making us produce absolute rubbish or criticizing every single thing we write.

It's a cycle, isn't it? Every day is different.

But that's what makes the whole writing journey worth it.

Agree or disagree?

4 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more.

    But don't you find there are 'mood' things, too? Some days, you're convinced you've produced rubbish. You go back to it the next day, all set to cut it, and find that, actually, it's not bad at all.

    Have a good weekend!

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  2. Shirley - Absolutely! My mood definitely affects my writing. But strangely enough, if I'm feeling down, sometimes I'll immerse myself in my novel and just have a blast writing it.

    But then there are the days when I'm in a bad mood and I know that anything I write will be crap. :-)

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  3. AMEN! You've described my writing life. The trouble is not to rip your hair out on those frustrating days. Take a step back and try again.

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  4. I can't think of an activity that is so non-linear. One day, the words pour out, it almost a religious experience. On another, I'm scratching my head, wondering what ever made me think I had anything at all to say, or the ability to say it. There is some comfort in knowing that it works this way for everyone, no matter how accomplished.

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