It's been fun reading all the NaNo prep posts in the writer's blogosphere lately, but one issue's come up that I find annoying: motivation/discipline loss (some call it writers block).
One site that I adore reading seems to be particularly neurotic about preparing for NaNo and writing in general, from using excel spreadsheets to keep track of your friends' word counts (not even your own!) to taking care of their life a month in advance. (It's written by a set of writers, so I'm not picking on anyone specifically.)
The question that comes to my mind is: why do you need so much fluff around your writing?
-or - How nice is your life that you have time to worry about writing instead of actually writing?
I'm not trying to be condescending; here's some context:
I work almost full-time, and I have to drive in L.A. traffic to get to that job.
In addition, I have to exercise every weekday otherwise I'm unable to sit/stand through my computer-heavy job (I convert my desk into a standing workstation half the day so I don't get dead-ass syndrome).
Third, I have pretty intense hypoglycemia and I have to eat every 2-3 hours or I get the shakes and a migraine. Do you know how much time it takes to prepare/get and eat food six times a day? I really don't enjoy food as anything other than fuel these days and I eat half those meals at the computer.
Fourth, though I don't have children, I'm raising a dog.
Fifth, I'm an insomniac who needs 8-9 hours of sleep. So I'm either exhausted or playing catch-up all the time.
Lastly, my boyfriend's not a fan of cleaning, so a lot of the chores fall on me if I want to use plates when I eat and wear underwear to work.
On top of this, I make time to write at least an hour a day, more if I can. (This past weekend, I put in about 5 hours each day while Jifo did a Call of Duty marathon. We were happy and very sore campers.)
It's hard to get uninterrupted time unless it's 4:15 a.m. like it is right now, so when I do get to write, I TREASURE the CRAP out of it.
I have never in my life understood writer's block. To me, that's a writer with too much time.
Or one who doesn't like their book very much and should probably switch plots or POV, or something.
Seriously, if your work doesn't make you obsess over it and look forward to jumping into that world because it's so much more awesome than your real life of bills and clients and sagging butts, then think how your reader will feel? "Writers block" could actually be a really helpful indication that you've gone down the wrong path.
It may also be a sign that you need to brush up on your craft. The better a writer I become, the more writing and revising I do. I'm constantly acquiring new skills, reading writing blogs when I want free advice, rewarding myself with a craft book if I finish a big project (I'm looking forward to Donald Maas' workbook when I finish NaNo 2010).
Given how much I love writing, I wouldn't waste a second of my valuable time on anything other than the actual work itself. That and my guilty pleasure, Nikita and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Hey you have writer's block, I have reality TV and the CW.
2 comments:
I like this post. I think you are right. Maybe sometimes there is an actual mental block going on really I think the best cure for writers block is to sit down and write. I've read so many quotes from published writers who said that's the deal -- you have to just DO IT. stop whining or listing the reasons why you can't or the things in your way and sit your ass down and write.
Amen!
Who's got time for writer's block? If you don't know what comes next in one story, find another one to write!
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