Get to the Point...
Getting to the point here. I LOVE writing, but I HATE all the distractions with everything else that has to be done, and yet: all is necessary to create the living life. No. I'm not trying to be poetic here, and I'm not consciously trying to be philosophical either.
I get up, walk the dogs, feed the dogs, make coffee, oatmeal, and then instantly I am on the comp. I go into all my email accounts, check them, get to the writers' groups, check them, input if necessary....then I have to get up and WALK! Sometimes, though (don't tell anyone) I don't do it. Everything takes so much time away from writing, and I feel that the distractions are what keeps me from actually finishing a project or packaging a submission properly. It's not easy being a perfectionist either, because anything I plan to distribute publicly, I am never comfortable with the finished product.
There are wonderful groups that try and keep you leveled: NaNoWriMo, Scriptfrenzy, Coffee Shop Writers....some of the few that I frequent now, but it almost feels I need someone typing right next to me to not allow me to become distracted with the dog bark, or to have to close the verticals so the gardeners won't create a doggie havoc, or open the window to save the electrical bill, or keep shifting the air conditioning unit to cold, to hot, to cold again, and...or...you get my meaning...
Contests (like NaNoWriMo, and Scriptfrenzy) help keep one accounted for, and contests from the Writers' Market book, keep a bit of monies in your pocket, but the dream of the team is publishing...and THAT's where a writer wants to be. Why? To have a readership and have one's voice heard about what one thinks or believes; to entertain the masses with creative story telling, and to be able to share with others insightful awakenings, and so forth....Thus, in the words of Billy Crystal in the movie "Throw Mamma from the Train:" 'a writer must write--ALWAYS.'
So true. Thereby, my needing a writing partner next to me, lashing the whip as it were by pounding the keys to my pounding and our syncopating rhythms to creative fruition...Oh well...
I get up, walk the dogs, feed the dogs, make coffee, oatmeal, and then instantly I am on the comp. I go into all my email accounts, check them, get to the writers' groups, check them, input if necessary....then I have to get up and WALK! Sometimes, though (don't tell anyone) I don't do it. Everything takes so much time away from writing, and I feel that the distractions are what keeps me from actually finishing a project or packaging a submission properly. It's not easy being a perfectionist either, because anything I plan to distribute publicly, I am never comfortable with the finished product.
There are wonderful groups that try and keep you leveled: NaNoWriMo, Scriptfrenzy, Coffee Shop Writers....some of the few that I frequent now, but it almost feels I need someone typing right next to me to not allow me to become distracted with the dog bark, or to have to close the verticals so the gardeners won't create a doggie havoc, or open the window to save the electrical bill, or keep shifting the air conditioning unit to cold, to hot, to cold again, and...or...you get my meaning...
Contests (like NaNoWriMo, and Scriptfrenzy) help keep one accounted for, and contests from the Writers' Market book, keep a bit of monies in your pocket, but the dream of the team is publishing...and THAT's where a writer wants to be. Why? To have a readership and have one's voice heard about what one thinks or believes; to entertain the masses with creative story telling, and to be able to share with others insightful awakenings, and so forth....Thus, in the words of Billy Crystal in the movie "Throw Mamma from the Train:" 'a writer must write--ALWAYS.'
So true. Thereby, my needing a writing partner next to me, lashing the whip as it were by pounding the keys to my pounding and our syncopating rhythms to creative fruition...Oh well...
So I'm working on a hundred different projects simultaneously: a script, two novels, re-editing my poems for a poetry book submission, re-editing my short stories and growing them from 7 to 10 for a short story book submission I hope to get published this year as well. There is so much to do, so little free time, and essentially no cheerleaders nudging me on the shoulder, screaming: "c'mon, don't stop, keep going!" How did Charles Dickens (1812-1870) do it? And his life was no piece of pie, either! I believe he was one of the most prolific writers of the Victorian age.
Okay. So let's analyze this a moment. There are writers who write like madmen or women. Are most single? Are most childless? If they have children, do their spouses or significant others keep those kids from disturbing them? Do they have pets? Do their pets remain completely still and asleep while they write for hours at a time? Do they have houses with doors, windows, air conditioning units, do they eat? What on earth do they do to keep moving forward on that story without being easily or uneasily distracted?
I have attempted to approach some authors of poetry, novel writing, etc., but most are not very conducive to discourse regarding their helpful little sundries, or if they have a cheerleading squad, urging them on. What usually happens when I ask a question on print, or try and chat, is this: nothing. They don't answer. They are probably seeing ME as a distraction and they ignore me. Wait! I think I got it! I think what I am learning from this is this: ignore everything! Don't talk to anyone, don't feed the dogs, don't walk, and don't for heaven's sake, answer any questions on the net, the phone, from the door or out of a window....Just DON'T.
A WRITER MUST WRITE........ALWAYS!
I've heard that some writers have dolls, puppets, and hats to keep them company without exacting dutiful distractions....hmmmm....(I have a couple of puppets, and some hats and dolls.)
What comes with being a writer is a very quiet world on the outside, but a very lusciously loud world on the inside. The characters, protagonists and antagonists alike, as well as myself with them, and other paraphanalia, are roaming all about my brain, giving me sometimes excrutiating headaches about what they want to say, do, or who they want to be...But such is the work and world of the writer.
Well, this was therapy, thank you. Have to get back to work, that doesn't really feel like work, but play--only HARD play.... Yes. It's exhausting. It's exhilarating. It's creative, and sometimes....it's therapy. Have to go now. Have to WRITE.
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