I’ve been dealing with a lot of the fantastic writing excuses lately. Not feeling well, too tired, we’re dogsitting and the puppy is having way too much loud fun antagonizing my 10 year old dog, I’m hungry, I need to shower…
When really what my deal is I’ve had a bit of confidence loss. I’ve been fairly transparent on my blog and podcast about my writing career from when this thing launched almost three and a half years ago, and so right now it feels weird because a couple of things have come down that I can’t talk about. And this isn’t one of those, “Squeee! I’ll tell you all about it when the contracts are signed.” No, my career took a bit of a step backward and I am not comfortable discussing the details publicly. But my confidence is shaken and my writing is suffering.
And the thing is, if I were a listener writing to me with this question, I know what I’d say. “Suck it up. We all slip up. Even when things are going great in your career, you’re going to have setbacks. Don’t let it affect the one thing you love, regardless of setbacks, and that’s putting words on paper.”
I have given myself some “feel sorry for myself” time, and I’ve made plans for my next steps, but I haven’t been writing much this week. OK, I haven’t been writing at all. Now’s the time to get back on that damn horse. Some of my favorite bloggers/writers have spoken of this recently. Tobias Buckell (who, incidentally, I’ll be interviewing soon) said:
Sometimes, I meet people who’ve spent their lives fiddling around trying to find the perfect tool. They wait to learn, they wait for life experience, they wait for inspiration, the perfect first line, the perfect idea, they clutter their lives with all manners of things.
They’ve spent 10 years trying to find a bandsaw to cut a 2X4.
And Cory Doctorow recently had a Locus column on Writing in the Age of Distraction:
- Don’t be ceremonious
Forget advice about finding the right atmosphere to coax your muse into the room. Forget candles, music, silence, a good chair, a cigarette, or putting the kids to sleep. It’s nice to have all your physical needs met before you write, but if you convince yourself that you can only write in a perfect world, you compound the problem of finding 20 free minutes with the problem of finding the right environment at the same time. When the time is available, just put fingers to keyboard and write. You can put up with noise/silence/kids/discomfort/hunger for 20 minutes.
And that’s really what I need to remember. There’s no worry about making it perfect. There’s no dealing with stress so bad I can’t write for 20 min. Sure, I have been in a bad mood, which hinders my writing, but wouldn’t it do me some good to get my mind off of the badness, to deal with (or invent) some problems for some other people for a change?
In short, get off your ass, Lafferty. Just write the damn thing.
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13 Responses to Excuses, excuses
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Sorry to hear about your setback. It reminds me of some deadends I’ve hit in my life and creative career, at least in how you seem to feel.
I can’t help but wonder if your real career is different from what you think your career is? In other words, if you’re defining your career as “successful fiction writer”, then you’re ignoring a lot of things that make you distinct.
Maybe your career is “New Media Superstar” and fiction writing is one aspect of that. I think we could all agree that your career has been on a good trajectory if you consider every aspect of your work.
For what it’s worth, I can’t fraking wait to read the next thing you write! I know how setbacks feel – and I know you don’t need any random words of encouragement from me, I can see you already know what to do next: Just write the damn thing, and make lots of us happy.
Wow.
Knock-backs are a killer.
As to listening to your own opinions, taking your own advice is the hardest thing anyone can do. My wife is a counsellor and though she can dish out help by the ladle full, she admits that when it comes to listening to her inner counsellor, it’s tough to take.
Whatever it is that has put you personally back just remember this: there are legions of people out here who know you are better than you give yourself credit for.
Please keep writing.
“Just Write the Damn Thing” would be a great alternate title for ISBW…
Whenever I struggle, I turn to Stephen King. His book “On Writing” all ways helps me get the writing done.
Wow. I love your honesty when it comes to the frustrations and setbacks we all experience in our own way. I hope things improve and I echo the others when I tell you that what you write is good and relevant to alot of people.
Hopefully it won’t last too long, but how about accepting that your mood is dark and just writing about how you feel, outside any story framework or reference to characters. Just sit and pour out the frustration, annoyance, anger or whatever else onto the page in the form of whatever thoughts come to you at that point in time. Save it with a suitable filename and walk away.
Come back and re-read it some time in the future when you have a character who has been through something similar and see what you can steal from yourself.
It can be difficult to motivate oneself in such situations, but the results can be both cathartic and creative. No doubt there’s a technical term for this process, but it’s basically the writer’s equivalent of method acting.
Greetings O’ Might One,
Everyone has already said some good things. But I am going to go a different route.
I am not even going to ask what happened, not my place. But I think you got it right with the time for “feeling sorry for yourself” as you so put it.
I personally think you should take a bit of time to just veg. Have some time with the family, get lost in a video game or good book. Just let your mind go for a bit. Then after your allotted time is up, apply butt in chair and write.
I am not saying writing/fighting through the icky isn’t a good idea. That might be what you actually do need. But I think just take a bit of R&R and then start again. You have all the time in the world, and we will be here if you need us.
just don’t dwell too long in the puddle of ur setback.
u can always try writing some poetry or haiku when u don’t feel like writing long entries.
Three letters. NLP.
My own personal “to hell with it, keep writing” thing is just to sit down with blank paper and a pen — CHEAP paper so that I don’t feel like I’m wasting it — and write the gobbledegook jibberish which flows through my brain at any given second. Most of the time I sit back and think, “you know, it’s a tragedy that trees died for this” after I’m done, but occasionally I’ve gotten an extra short story draft out of it, and it hasn’t even been the worst thing I’ve written. But it seems to break through some barrier against writing.
Other times, of course, I just sit in a puddle of FAIL for a while, and then go take a nap.
Cory Doctorow hit on a profound truth, there, I think. Anyway.
Good luck with this.
I’m just getting back into writing after not really being serious about it. The idea of just writing for 20 minutes is a good one. I hope I can come back here for more inspiration, and maybe to put in my two cents when I have something to share. I’ll have to check out your podcast as well. Thanks.
Even your setbacks are inspirational for those of us who thought gifted writers never have dry spells. We’re all creeping past the ‘mood solstice’ . But don’t wait for spring, maybe you can pull something new out of this temporary darkness. Keep up the podcasts and writing, your advice is really good and fun to listen to on the train into Dublin in the mornings. Keep up the good work!