This weekend my kids and I visited my parents who live about two hours away. We had such a good time. It was refreshing for me, like the Fellowship of the Ring coming from Rivendell. (Sorry, I just read barefootpoet's blog so I'm in the Lord of the Rings mode.)
I've been thinking about writing a lot lately. I have tried my hand at it so many times. I even went about six months sitting at the computer everyday for at least an hour to get a story of mine down. I've written articles and the like. But the only thing I've ever had published was a story I wrote in high school that my teacher sent off and it was published in a small youth booklet. I LOVE stories. They speak to me. I've said before that there are stories going on in my mind all the time. I re-work them at bedtime. But lately I've avoided putting them on paper. Don't know why. I wrote a fictional book once and I still have it tucked away in my "writer's briefcase". I've never sent it off. Everytime I read it I find something that I want to change. How do writers put their story on paper and then just leave it?!
I was told about a man who asked C.S. Lewis how he wrote his books. C.S. Lewis said something like, "I see the whole thing in my mind and then I write it down." Incredible!
Writing is harder for me than drawing. Maybe because I'm harder on myself in doing it. Art seems to be forgiving. Even if you make a mistake, you can creatively "fix" it. Writing seems so concrete. It has right and a wrong way. However, the content should be what releases me. I have a difficult time getting down on paper what I have in my head. Maybe I should just do like I've done with learning to draw. I could again devote a certain amount of time to it every day. Maybe my perfectionism is stopping me again. Thinking that if I can't do it perfect then I don't want to do it at all. My dad has inspired me. He has been writing a book about his time in service during the Vietnam war. He said he's thought about it for a long time but is finally putting it to paper. I'm so proud of him. I need to just take the leap and quit talking about it. ;)
9 comments:
It is so true - how writing has "rules" and how art can be so subjective. Art is alingual(is that a word!?) and free of scrutiny from grammar police!
Still, I believe in the process. When I took a writers workshop I was introduced to the idea of free writing, just write write write, nevermind the rules.
I found this to be very inspiring: http://www.dannygregory.com/2006/03/old.php
/Stephanie
When I say "alingual" I meant that there is no language attached to art - such as English, Swedish, whatever :)
I do believe it is that perfection monster again. Don't listen to it!! I don't think you should make yourself do it. I think if you want to do it, then do it. If you can't enjoy it then what's the point? Go for it. I know it's there.
Stephanie - I like that idea to just "write, write, write, nevermind the rules" and "because I must" as that article said. Thanks for telling me about it. It was inspiring!
SM - I am having to beat that perfection monster down at every turn! Actually, I didn't mean to literally MAKE myself write, I really meant I wanted to carve out that time in my day so that I had the freedom to do it.
SarahJane - Welcome to my blog! You're right, maybe there isn't a "wrong" way to write. (I love you too)
You can always fix your writing, but, like art, you can fix it to death, as well. For a few weeks I gave myself a deadline to turn things in -- I would like to have a column or such like it, so I decided to act as if I did. The last thing I wrote is when I decided to quit doing that b/c I felt like I was writing such junk -- which is the piece on my blog about loving your kids that mothers literally worldwide have mentioned has touched them. Anne LaMott has a GREAT book on writing, "Bird by Bird" that reveals that fabulous writers generally agonize over it -- and spend a lot of time not knowing what to put down. That helped me -- I have something in common with a great writer! :-) I think writing a little every day is a good idea -- you will find gold in your words. Keep at it -- and share occasionally!
Ditto to the above quotes! Forget the perfect part. It seems to me I remember getting to read some of that story and loved it! You are a great writer but don't be influenced or pressured by that. I know with me it is a vulnerable thing...not sure I want people's input. Do it anyway, it seems like each persons writing touches some and not others so just think like that...it will touch at least some regardless! :)
Just go for it, girl! I really liked (don't gasp) Stephen King's book On Writing. My mother-in-law (who is in the process of trying to have her first novel published) loaned this book to me about 7 or 8 years ago and it was very inspiring. I highly recommend that you hunt this book down at your local library.
Writing is art, but writing is also a craft. Great writers craft their work, they add some here, chip away some there. Great works of literature are most likely never finished in the eyes of the writer. I read where J.R.R. Tolkien love interacting with those who read his works because he believed them to still be alive, and often agreed with people who "read into" or "added" something to his work.
What if your struggles have less to do with being bound by concrete rules and the perfection monster (don't meet him much but if he comes around I'll chop his bloody head off!) and more to do with you deciding to enjoy crafting your story. Don't be frustrated that you see necessary, and at times unnecessary, changes and "imperfectons", embrace the process. Do you have any idea how long Tolkien spent on the "Lord of the Rings"? It's initial writings began before the first world war, and "The Fellowship of the Ring" was published in 1954, over forty years!
True, having someone in your life to help you call a work "finished" is necessary, it is said that C.S. Lewis did that for Tolkien, or they may have never been published. Sorry, I'm rambling, but don't fight who you are creatively, and embrace and love the process of reading, writing, and rewriting.
Just for the record, I'm NOT pregnant. ;)
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