Writing is a job. Like any job you must do it consistently and constantly in order to be effective. I struggle because at times my emotions impact my ability to put out good writing. There are days when I am extremely depressed and on those days the words are not my respite. I need to learn how to fight through that and write in spite of the pain. If I could do that I would be a more consistent writer and perhaps a better writer as well.
Clearly, I am still at the bottom of that dark well. It is 8:40 and I am in bed on a Monday night. Yet it is later now than it was when I first went to bed last night.
The other thing about writing is time. Time management but also time on task. In bed at 8:40 argues that not enough time is being spent on the task and moreover, my life is shrinking to something less than lovely. All in all it seems that 6 is off to a very bad start.
But enough about me. Back to the writing:
More and more as I grow old I believe the iterative process is useful. Perhaps it works better for me now because I tend to write stories in bits and pieces, writing through sections again and again the way a painter applies a new coat. The first layer of words does little to tell the story that the 3rd and fourth bring forward so well. I am still a great believer in the outline, but the more I write the more I recognize that the outline is simply me taping off the boundaries of what I think the story is, and as I write more I discover more and learn more about the characters and the concepts involved. I work to tie all of it together in a way that feels interconnected.
Good Writing makes me feel good about myself and the life I’ve chosen to live.
Some Thoughts:
- Did not do chapters today and that means more work for tomorrow–the official first day of the spring semester.
- Even in the event that I fall prey to depression I will get the words going.
- I tried everything to shake loose of it today. I even started playing 2K, just to fall into that story. I hid myself away under a VR mask and played my first game. I liked it.