Muse Bootcamp
Enough of that airy-fairy, "write when you're ready" nonsense. I've coddled my Muse for too long now, and what has she done for me lately? Nada. She flits by with an idea every few days or so, but does she stick around for the hard slog? Decidedly not.
Awed once more by the Gord Almighty and his prodigious output, I've had another hard stare at this thing that's shaping up into something suspiciously akin to writer's block. And here's the problem, I think: my brain's gotten into some bad habits. Laziness, for one. But also, the inability to stay focused and immersed in the fictive dream.
I had an idea for a quick, little piece I was going to jot out after coming back from Austin. Quick and little--key words there. Now, I am going to give myself some leeway since I was moving and starting a new job and all that. But when I finally did sit down to write this past weekend, I got all of 200 words in (painfully and slowly at that) and that was it. Brain shut down. Muse in retreat. I'd write a sentence, maybe two, and then my mind would wander away, like an Alzheimer's patient with ADD. Story? What story? Oh...that story. Right. Where was I? type type typ--Oooh, what's that over there?
So that's it. No more pandering to the whims of Inspiration and Mood and prissy notions about Art. I'm setting up a schedule for crap manufacturing and this is how it goes:
1. Timed freewriting--twenty minutes to start. I'll gradually up this to an hour over the course of the next few months. "Freewriting" is probably the wrong word, since I have to be writing a story, no journalling or free association. This is to retrain myself to keep writing and stay in the flow. Because if I stop to think about the right word or the next logical action, it gives the brain a chance to stall out, get distracted. Not that thinking about those things is bad, which is why there is also exercise number two.
2. Daily word count goals--I used to do this. I had a big desk calendar with a little checkbox on each date. I'd color in the box with pink highlighter when I'd completed my 1000 words for that day and I'd write the day's tally beside it. I stopped doing it when we moved to China because my calendar wouldn't fit in my suitcase, but that was okay because the habit was set enough that I could do without my checkboxes. That no longer seems to be the case. I'm lowering the bar to 500 words a day to start. (Since I'll already do about 500 words in my twenty minutes of freewriting, it works out to 1000 a day anyway.) The word count must be added to whatever new story I'm currently working on--I don't have any revisions planned for a couple of months anyway; it's useless to even think about them until I can get this whole writing discipline thing under control again. Once I can use my daily word count goals to actually complete drafts of things, then I can think about revisions.
The observant reader will note that the emphasis here is on quantity and speed rather than quality. I'm not really concerned about that. My Muse is obsessed enough about quality that I trust that after I churn out enough crap, she'll get exasperated and try to wield her influence to make it something decent, scheduled rigidity or no. (How much crap it's going to take, I don't know. Could be a few weeks' worths. Could be more.) But until then, quality control is out the window. If I don't have any stories to send out for a few months, so be it. As long as writing is getting done. The current system isn't producing anything publishable either--since it's not, in fact, producing anything at all.
Sigh. Nothing like having a day job to kick you into seriousness about writing.
Awed once more by the Gord Almighty and his prodigious output, I've had another hard stare at this thing that's shaping up into something suspiciously akin to writer's block. And here's the problem, I think: my brain's gotten into some bad habits. Laziness, for one. But also, the inability to stay focused and immersed in the fictive dream.
I had an idea for a quick, little piece I was going to jot out after coming back from Austin. Quick and little--key words there. Now, I am going to give myself some leeway since I was moving and starting a new job and all that. But when I finally did sit down to write this past weekend, I got all of 200 words in (painfully and slowly at that) and that was it. Brain shut down. Muse in retreat. I'd write a sentence, maybe two, and then my mind would wander away, like an Alzheimer's patient with ADD. Story? What story? Oh...that story. Right. Where was I? type type typ--Oooh, what's that over there?
So that's it. No more pandering to the whims of Inspiration and Mood and prissy notions about Art. I'm setting up a schedule for crap manufacturing and this is how it goes:
1. Timed freewriting--twenty minutes to start. I'll gradually up this to an hour over the course of the next few months. "Freewriting" is probably the wrong word, since I have to be writing a story, no journalling or free association. This is to retrain myself to keep writing and stay in the flow. Because if I stop to think about the right word or the next logical action, it gives the brain a chance to stall out, get distracted. Not that thinking about those things is bad, which is why there is also exercise number two.
2. Daily word count goals--I used to do this. I had a big desk calendar with a little checkbox on each date. I'd color in the box with pink highlighter when I'd completed my 1000 words for that day and I'd write the day's tally beside it. I stopped doing it when we moved to China because my calendar wouldn't fit in my suitcase, but that was okay because the habit was set enough that I could do without my checkboxes. That no longer seems to be the case. I'm lowering the bar to 500 words a day to start. (Since I'll already do about 500 words in my twenty minutes of freewriting, it works out to 1000 a day anyway.) The word count must be added to whatever new story I'm currently working on--I don't have any revisions planned for a couple of months anyway; it's useless to even think about them until I can get this whole writing discipline thing under control again. Once I can use my daily word count goals to actually complete drafts of things, then I can think about revisions.
The observant reader will note that the emphasis here is on quantity and speed rather than quality. I'm not really concerned about that. My Muse is obsessed enough about quality that I trust that after I churn out enough crap, she'll get exasperated and try to wield her influence to make it something decent, scheduled rigidity or no. (How much crap it's going to take, I don't know. Could be a few weeks' worths. Could be more.) But until then, quality control is out the window. If I don't have any stories to send out for a few months, so be it. As long as writing is getting done. The current system isn't producing anything publishable either--since it's not, in fact, producing anything at all.
Sigh. Nothing like having a day job to kick you into seriousness about writing.
posted by tinatsu at 9:59 PM
3 Comments:
Huh, and here I was feeling like an underachiever. It's really not constant work, just bursts, and you have to remember, I'm essentially working part time. :) I ought, by rights, to be more prodigious.
Anyway, here's what I'll say: HIMNAE!
(Kind of like: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Go! Go! Go!" and "Hang in there!" all kind of wrapped up in one.)
Looking forward to your next story!
Excellent!
Sounds like a really good idea.
Thanks, guys. We'll see how it goes.
Overanalysis is definitely one of the stumbling blocks I am trying to kick out of the way. But it's mostly page fright at this point.
"Himnae!" sounds like the Japanese phrase "Ganbatte!"
Post a Comment
<< Home