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| Peach Blossoms |
But with the beginning of summer here, I feel like I really need to get a certain story (the one I've been writing since forever) done because I've got just about three months before the end of the year (which is kind of my self-imposed deadline).
I don’t know why this is so hard, because I've done it before when I really needed to get something done. I think I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that needs to be done before it becomes the story it’s meant to be.
I really need to start looking at it in smaller pieces rather than one big daunting piece of work. I need to take it one page at a time, one day at a time and not stress myself with whether I’ll be able to finish or not.
Above all, I think that at the crux of my problem lies one specific thing: I’m not reading enough. Anyway, not like I used to in the past. I find that when I don’t make time to read regularly, my creative inspiration starts to dwindle super fast and I can’t get any decent writing done.
Stories are fodder for a writer’s imagination really (at least, that’s my take on it). And my imagination is a hungry beast (and right now, it's about to pass out of hunger - I'm trying to revive it). If I don’t feed it regularly with stories, I find that it refuses to carry me anywhere. Is your imagination a hungry beast?
So, the plan for this summer is to set aside reading and writing time every day. I’m going to try this and see how it works out.
You're inside my head, haha. I could have written this exact post.
ReplyDeleteExcept that summer is beginning where you're at... That makes my brain hurt. October is my favorite month of the year because of the long shadows and falling leaves and cold.
But yeah, what you said about being a puddle of inertia and not reading and needing to feed your imagination. I find my prose gets incredibly sloppy if I don't read.
Why is it so hard to write? Really it should be simple. You sit down and you write. Why is it not that easy?
It's kind of creepy how we get into each other's heads sometimes. I think we must be kindred spirits. Or you know, just a special brand of crazy. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI was looking through my collection of quotes and found this piece of gold: “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” – E.L. Doctorow
(Yeah, that brand of crazy.)
Sometimes, when the writing is not going so good I think that I must really like to torture myself. But yeah, sticking with it even when it's not going great is what's going to get this book done. Because the whole process is just full with ups and downs, though at times it feels like it's mostly downs.
Hmm, I'm coming down with another post idea. And I'm nearly done editing another short story, which I'll be posting soon.