resumption of duties
Jan. 27th, 2010 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheOne of my LJ friends mentioned that she has again picked up the pen. This, of course, makes me smile.
I too have begun to write again, though the process is spotty. I should write what really is on my mind, but when I do that the word choices are humdrum and I am not pleased. I told my LJ friend that she was doing so good to let herself write crap, which is what I need to do. I'm such a perfectionist: my editor is always perched on my right shoulder, peering.
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vylar_kaftan recently sent me a care package; included therein was The Observation Deck, a kit for breaking through writer's block and growing as a writer. I'm enjoying reading through the book (though I suspect I should probably be utilizing the deck). One of the pieces of advice stipulated that a writer should be producing much more than what comes out in the final draft. As in, at least ten times more. That rarely if ever happens with me. I'll write something, then administer word choice revisions or sometimes stanza relocations--but the content is almost always what comes upon the receipt of the first inspiration.
I need to let myself write crap. A lot of crap. All the time. Because, as I told my LJ friend, many beautiful flowers have sprung from piles of dung.
Significantly, I am not writing because of a New Year's resolution. I tried that before; when I went off my regimen, I felt I could give up on the rest of my resolutions. That's the main reason I'm resoluteless this season.
I too have begun to write again, though the process is spotty. I should write what really is on my mind, but when I do that the word choices are humdrum and I am not pleased. I told my LJ friend that she was doing so good to let herself write crap, which is what I need to do. I'm such a perfectionist: my editor is always perched on my right shoulder, peering.
vylar_kaftan recently sent me a care package; included therein was The Observation Deck, a kit for breaking through writer's block and growing as a writer. I'm enjoying reading through the book (though I suspect I should probably be utilizing the deck). One of the pieces of advice stipulated that a writer should be producing much more than what comes out in the final draft. As in, at least ten times more. That rarely if ever happens with me. I'll write something, then administer word choice revisions or sometimes stanza relocations--but the content is almost always what comes upon the receipt of the first inspiration.I need to let myself write crap. A lot of crap. All the time. Because, as I told my LJ friend, many beautiful flowers have sprung from piles of dung.
Significantly, I am not writing because of a New Year's resolution. I tried that before; when I went off my regimen, I felt I could give up on the rest of my resolutions. That's the main reason I'm resoluteless this season.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-27 08:55 pm (UTC)I checked out a book on his works from my college library, and it had copies of his works in progress, his handwritten notes on the carefully typed pages, all of the corrections and modifications. It seemed a little demystified to me then, this magic of writing that I thought would strike as lightening and flow down into my pen and onto the page as though I was literally possessed. I expected, like Mozart, to write powerfully and perfectly on the first try.
But no, even that brilliant weirdo Yates had to endure revisions. It made writing crap more ok.