On Writing
I’ve been working on finishing a book for about eight years now. If that seems like a long time, well, just think how my spouse feels when for eight years in a row, on New Year’s Eve, I say, “This year I’m going to finish my book.” And the funny thing is that it’s not just one book. It’s not one agonizing editing project. No, it’s about eight books with eight different plots. None of which have ever kept my interest long enough for them to be finished.
What happens is that I’ll get excited about an idea, work very hard on the idea, and then my life and work conspire to distract me for some time from the project, so that when I go back to it it seems old and stale and well, bad. Thus, a new idea begins, and the pattern repeats.
For inspiration, I’ve read every book “On Writing” that has ever been published searching for the magic formula. I’ve read Stephen King’s advice, William Zinsser, Annie Dillard, Anne Lamott, and many lesser known authors who decide to break up their own writing block with a book about writing. Some of these authors are more famous for their books about writing then they are for any other type of writing (e.g. Julia Cameron). Don’t get me wrong. I’ve enjoyed all of them, but they weren’t what I needed.
At times, I’ve spent weeks sleep-deprived because of the odd notion that writing an hour before you normally would get up inspires genius and somehow taps into the right-side of the brain. I’ve filled journals full of “3-pages” blather (Julia Cameron’s advice) that I can’t seem to toss. I have notecards upon notecards with ideas from “Writing Down the Bones”. I’ve joined a monthly writer’s group to impose deadlines for production. I’ve outlined. I’ve not outlined. I feel envy when I’m in bookstores, and I listen to author interviews almost religiously. Imagine what I might have accomplished if I had put this kind of effort into writing?
I blame all of this lack of finishing on that great old beast — perfectionism. It’s a scary thought, finishing something that you care so deeply about, and risking its failure. It’s a scary thought that if I actually finish the book it may never see the shelf of a bookstore. You see, if you don’t finish something, well, you might not have to face up to the fact that it’s not perfect. It’s just always a work in progress.
Sigh. So this year I have committed to finishing, once again, only this time I’ve said that it’s ok if it’s not perfect. It just has to get done. Inspired by a friend who finished a rough draft of a book in a month by writing 1,500 words a day, I finished a very, very rough draft of a young adult fantasy novel earlier this year. The revision process killed me though. It was too rough.
So, I’m onto another project, only this time I’m doing something I’ve never tried before. First, I’m writing it with someone else, so I have someone to bounce ideas, edit, etc. on a regular basis. Second, I’m writing what I know. I used to try and write great literary research monsters, and now I don’t care about that. I just want to get my story down on the page, make people laugh, and tell the truth. I hope that’s enough to keep me going, one word at a time, one sentence at a time, until it’s done. I’ll keep you posted, and in a shameless plea for help, encouraging words are welcome.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: books, editing, funny, humor, On Writing, publishing, writing
June 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Janelle I always, always, always enjoy stories about your life and experiences. They are interesting and funny and remarkable and repeatable (I’ve told people about stuff you’ve told me and stuff you’ve written in this blog to great response!). Please write about your life.
Mary, I’m your biggest fan too.
Bless you!
June 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I’ve got all the same books. I swear people have made more money writing about working through Writer’s Block than they have from their own writing. I even read portions of Stephen King’s book On Writing to my third graders. (Okay, I skip over his cocaine addiction and focus on the importance of rewriting.)
Personally, I’ve found that since I’ve been blogging, it’s freed me to write whatever I feel like without worrying that it has to be PERFECT. The first time I ever wrote a first-person story, it was published in a major magazine. It just seemed so easy, so when the next one wasn’t, I was devastated. I envision a group of editors running interference and trying to block, when in fact most of these editors have probably been laid off.
I just read that publishers aren’t buying anything so many writers have decided to …(dare I say it?) – Self Publish. But, or course, first you have to have a work to publish. And the key word is WORK. I’ll be eager to hear how this goes, Janelle.
Jan – Thanks for the kind words and key advice. I will be working! It’s doing that little bit a day that is helping. Hopefully by the time I’m done there will be a publisher and people will be reading more! Ha! Ha! Janelle
June 18th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Yay! Congratulations! You have to let me read it. At least send me some of the first few chapters. And you should definitely do Nanowrimo with me next year.
You got it! Nanowrimo here we come! Janelle
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I’m in the same boat. So many great ideas, or so I think, until I get to chapter three, and then I think, Oh, I’ll set this aside because it needs too much research right now, I’ll just start this other one, which will be easier because it’s more about what I know, but then it seems too ordinary, and on and on and on. Maybe I can’t write long works, which is why I went into journalism. A deadline and a paycheck focus my mind tremendously. I have the perfectionist problem in the extreme, maybe because I have also worked as an editor. I find I write better in long-hand, maybe because it’s harder to delete and rearrange and re-write. I don’t finish those hand-written masterpieces, either. My husband jokes about finding scribblings on paper all over the house. I tried writing thoughts on note cards and putting them in a box, thinking that the book would practically assemble itself. Didn’t happen!
I like your tweet of imagining your characters as movie stars. I tried cutting out people from magazines as my characters. Maybe I’ll try that again.
I need to feel I’m accomplishing something, so I’ve volunteered to write for some newsletters and thrown myself into photography. I’ve also been designing cards for quick satisfaction, as Jan knows. Hallmark is quaking in fear!
Blogging helps, too.
I’d like a writing partner, so I’m eager to hear from you how that goes. I’ve suggested to friends in town who write that we at least meet once a month, but they freak out at the pressure…. Good luck with the writing. Just know that we are out here eagerly awaiting your book.
Catherine, I sincerely hope you finish yours too! I’d love to read it. Janelle