I just wrote Chapter 9 of my blog book, The Row House.
Chapter 8 I'm not very sure about. But, for now, it is staying.
The words are coming today, because they haven't in so long.
They are out there.
After writing like that, even a short piece, I feel spent. This post may be the last for a bit today, I can feel the energy leaving my fingertips and going into the keyboard, being transported to the few eyes that find it.
But, the energy...the characters... the people... are leaving my head, causing less confusion there.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Why Can't I Write?
I can see the words. They are right there. Each little word. Whole sentences. Paragraphs, pages. All there. In a 10 minute walk I write 2, 5, 20 pages. I see images, faces, action.
Then, I take a seat. In front of the computer. And nothing. The words don't get written down. The last update to my blog book was in late July, I think.
Why?
For one, my computer is connected to the Internet. Of course it is, that's how I blog and tweet and all that. BUT, that is fraught with problems, the most serious of which is distraction.
I have read that serious writers should write with a computer NOT connected to the Internet, then save and copy their writing into online formats like blogs. Of course, I remember being in college when the Internet was relatively "new" and wasn't all that great and I still found ways to get distracted. Taking a walk... checking my text-based email ... just sitting there. But, I also believe I got more WRITING done.
Now, I write on a computer with Internet access and have my email account open, my twitter feed going, an iPhone sitting next to me.
Of course, I'm distracted.
But also frustrated. If the words don't get out of my head, they stay there, trapped. And then I get angry. Or sullen.
I walk and the words jumble together, less eloquent, less connected than they were two days ago. I sit and I can't recreate the words, the pattern, the rhythm. And nothing. No words get written down and instead of a book blog with interested followers, I have a post and then a month of nothing. I have nothing to submit for publication. Ideas in my head don't get published.
I'm entering a short story contest. With content I created as part of a "traditional" novel attempt. I'm interested in any reviews I may get. Not sure at all that I'll be a finalist, but want to start getting words out there in front of people.
that's what's next.
Then, I take a seat. In front of the computer. And nothing. The words don't get written down. The last update to my blog book was in late July, I think.
Why?
For one, my computer is connected to the Internet. Of course it is, that's how I blog and tweet and all that. BUT, that is fraught with problems, the most serious of which is distraction.
I have read that serious writers should write with a computer NOT connected to the Internet, then save and copy their writing into online formats like blogs. Of course, I remember being in college when the Internet was relatively "new" and wasn't all that great and I still found ways to get distracted. Taking a walk... checking my text-based email ... just sitting there. But, I also believe I got more WRITING done.
Now, I write on a computer with Internet access and have my email account open, my twitter feed going, an iPhone sitting next to me.
Of course, I'm distracted.
But also frustrated. If the words don't get out of my head, they stay there, trapped. And then I get angry. Or sullen.
I walk and the words jumble together, less eloquent, less connected than they were two days ago. I sit and I can't recreate the words, the pattern, the rhythm. And nothing. No words get written down and instead of a book blog with interested followers, I have a post and then a month of nothing. I have nothing to submit for publication. Ideas in my head don't get published.
I'm entering a short story contest. With content I created as part of a "traditional" novel attempt. I'm interested in any reviews I may get. Not sure at all that I'll be a finalist, but want to start getting words out there in front of people.
that's what's next.
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