Monday, March 2, 2009

The real life thing is really bugging my proposal/short stories/ starting the next novel wrestle. And it is a a wrestle right now. I think it is guy thing (by all means tell me I am wrong), but I stand in awe of the authors who manage to juggle being a great parent/partner, some doing a day-job, and somehow writing 2-3 at once. Hey, I have small brain. It takes intensive focus to write, and if I whistle while I'm p!ssing, I wet my shoes. I find all that works for me is to do all the extraneous things that have to be done, and then switch off the incoming e-mail, and close any websites, make myself some really strong coffee, and stare at the screen until I get something done.

It works really well... in part.

I can stare at the screen for hours.

I've achieved a lot of screen staring like this.

Seriously: it is a creative process, and easier to get there for some than others. Your mechanism - be it write 200 words a day, or play Ravel's Bolero - is almost cetainly not the same as mine. Take any advice on this with shovels of salt... but do write. And somehow, finish.
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2 comments:

Rowena Cory Daniells said...

Dave, I find the hardest thing is the constant interruptions. With all of my 6 kids at home, 3 in UNI, 2 in high school and one lost his licence due to a seizure, I'm constantly making trips to the train station to drop them off and pick them up.

It's OK if I'm editing an ms that is pretty close to finished. But coming up with new story, or trying to hold the story arc of a large narrative in my head is hard, especially when I have that niggling feeling that something is not working. And I can't get enough thinking time to work out what it is.

March 2, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Pati Nagle said...

One thing I've learned is to jealously guard my writing time. This means talking to my friends and family about when I'm going to be unavailable to them. (I realize this is hard when you're a mom, but it should be possible to strike a deal with your family that you get an hour a day or whatever to write interrupted, after dinner or before breakfast or whenever it fits.)

Dave, for a long time I tried to clear my desk of everything else so that I could write without distractions, but I found that by the time I had cleared my desk I was too tired to write. So I now choose a block of time and sit down to write for that time. I don't answer the phone, and my writing computer is not connected to the Internet. This really helps me focus and be productive.

March 3, 2009 at 6:30 PM

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