So I'm now starting to wonder if I've got the chops to pull off this writing thing.
I've got a couple of stories in my head. Three are short stories (and how short stories get published anymore is a mystery to me), one's an autobiography (which, for a while, people told me I HAD to write), and two are novels. I've chosen one to start writing . . . and whenever I sit down to write (and that's not frequently; I've got a job and a family, a house that needs work, etc.), I've hit enormous brick walls the likes of which I never thought I'd encounter. The last couple of times I've sat myself down with the intention of doing some work on my novel, my ideas do not come out in any fluid way--or, more accurately, they come out too fluid, like cookie dough that's all runny and won't take shape. And nothing makes you want to get up and walk away more than spilling runny mental cookie batter all over your keyboard.
I have no idea what to do next.
I do, however, have two things in mind. The first is to apply some goal-setting skills (learned in the book I just finished, The Power of Less by Leo Babauta) and see if I can't do this successfully in more incremental steps. This might prove to solve only part of my problem; I think one of the other problems I'm having is getting the story itself to take its proper shape. I've got plenty of devices, quite a few characters, and a basic plot . . . what I don't seem to be generating is a narrative that anyone outside my head would understand, nor am I creating anything that seems as good or enjoyable as the stuff I've been reading from established authors. Many people have told me that they like my writing, but I don't see what they're seeing, so I'm having a difficult time reproducing that which I cannot identify. The other day I thought that seeking help from professionals might be, if nothing else, encouraging. To that end, I might check my home library for Stephen King's On Writing. I have no idea if that will help, but it couldn't hurt.
In the end, everything is going to encourage me to write, keep writing, and write some more. Some of it's going to be crap--some writers suggest that most of it will be crap--but that as I get through it the whole thing will eventually take shape and I'll find my rhythm.
I'm trying not to get discouraged. I think the goal setting will help. I hope it will, anyway.
Observations, rants, and plausible
deniability from a person who refuses
to be a prisoner of his own world.
deniability from a person who refuses
to be a prisoner of his own world.
The Village
I AM WRITING!
My Screenplay -- Draft Three
I'm currently reading:
On my Kindle 2
I'm listening to:
iTunes Radio
I'm driving:
The Honda FCX Clarity
