I’m going to keep this short! I have work to do. Sometimes we need to say that. In brief: I went down something of a rabbit-hole for too long yesterday. It started with writing in response to some feedback; this can happen. I started to write before thinking through. Then examined what was getting onto paper. Fought a niggling feeling that I was going somewhere I didn’t need to be, maybe even shouldn’t be, but kept writing… then finally stopped.
Am in my first week of retirement from a job with oppressive, vindictive management. Needing to build back strength after a long series of physical stuff (a dislocated femur is so rare some ER doctors have never heard of it, for example) and Covid lockdown. In a disorientation of starting to swim again, pick up a bike today that should be relatively safe for my totally revised knee, feeling drained with relief of lifting of work weight - the need to write is surging. Alison recommended I write the ending of a novel I feel has been so long in the making that it's gone stale, and I wrote a couple of hundred words on that. Pulled out a short story, never completed, that started nagging at me again, and after reading critique comments and mulling them over, will take a stab at that, too. Don't have a proper routine yet. Seems to be swim or walk after getting up, sitting at desk for a couple of hours with a lot of dawdling - reading news, househunting, thinking about story....
Trying to write or even think about writing from a 33 foot C&C sailboat is a hopeless task. Just as one is settling into a thought about how to develop a character from my novel a boat task appears to short circuit any progress.- even my husband who can spend long periods of time being non- communicative suddenly senses a lack of attention and needs to talk. The solution, I think, is to be in the moment of my experience and wait until I return to my writing cave.
It’s so interesting to see how others work. I get those niggling feelings when I’m working sometimes too. For me, that usually means I’m off track and need some thinking time to clarify where I’m going. It works best for me it I leave it for a bit and work on something else..another part of that manuscript or something else entirely. I haven’t reflected on my own process for a while. Thank you for this.
Yep...a literal break. Normally I make a daily effort to write or plot out a story or at minimum do a little research, but I've spent the past two weeks doing nothing. It felt awful, especially being so new to Substack and knowing the importance of consistently releasing my newsletter. Much of it stems from a serialized story that is taking longer than expected to finish, but the rest is all related to motivation. I've started to power through this week, mostly thanks to a few surprise subscriptions and reading newsletters by other writers.
I have taken the summer off to write and to find stories of all sorts. The first gift I gave myself was this subscription, Alison you are such a radiant muse. This is the gift of time and focus, so much if which I give to others. Right now I am on Maybe Island, actually that was a typo I, but it makes sense…maybe I’ll write about this or that, maybe something will surprise me, maybe I can craft a story from it. Maybe it will be a good one…carving out this time and space, adding a muse and a community, getting caught in a rip tide and lost in an enchanted forest has nourished me. Looking forward to being present with all of you in the Unschool.
Am in my first week of retirement from a job with oppressive, vindictive management. Needing to build back strength after a long series of physical stuff (a dislocated femur is so rare some ER doctors have never heard of it, for example) and Covid lockdown. In a disorientation of starting to swim again, pick up a bike today that should be relatively safe for my totally revised knee, feeling drained with relief of lifting of work weight - the need to write is surging. Alison recommended I write the ending of a novel I feel has been so long in the making that it's gone stale, and I wrote a couple of hundred words on that. Pulled out a short story, never completed, that started nagging at me again, and after reading critique comments and mulling them over, will take a stab at that, too. Don't have a proper routine yet. Seems to be swim or walk after getting up, sitting at desk for a couple of hours with a lot of dawdling - reading news, househunting, thinking about story....
Trying to write or even think about writing from a 33 foot C&C sailboat is a hopeless task. Just as one is settling into a thought about how to develop a character from my novel a boat task appears to short circuit any progress.- even my husband who can spend long periods of time being non- communicative suddenly senses a lack of attention and needs to talk. The solution, I think, is to be in the moment of my experience and wait until I return to my writing cave.
It’s so interesting to see how others work. I get those niggling feelings when I’m working sometimes too. For me, that usually means I’m off track and need some thinking time to clarify where I’m going. It works best for me it I leave it for a bit and work on something else..another part of that manuscript or something else entirely. I haven’t reflected on my own process for a while. Thank you for this.
You go!
Yep...a literal break. Normally I make a daily effort to write or plot out a story or at minimum do a little research, but I've spent the past two weeks doing nothing. It felt awful, especially being so new to Substack and knowing the importance of consistently releasing my newsletter. Much of it stems from a serialized story that is taking longer than expected to finish, but the rest is all related to motivation. I've started to power through this week, mostly thanks to a few surprise subscriptions and reading newsletters by other writers.
I have taken the summer off to write and to find stories of all sorts. The first gift I gave myself was this subscription, Alison you are such a radiant muse. This is the gift of time and focus, so much if which I give to others. Right now I am on Maybe Island, actually that was a typo I, but it makes sense…maybe I’ll write about this or that, maybe something will surprise me, maybe I can craft a story from it. Maybe it will be a good one…carving out this time and space, adding a muse and a community, getting caught in a rip tide and lost in an enchanted forest has nourished me. Looking forward to being present with all of you in the Unschool.