Having just finished a 10-week stretch of generating new material for the book, I am taking this week (and maybe next) to type up those new scenes and take another look at how things are shaping up. I also plan to revisit and revise a handful of previously written scenes to align them with changes in characters and events that have happened as the book (and my writing) evolves. As I do that, and as I come across some of my reflections on how the writing was going at the time, I'll post a few of those past entries until I catch up again to the present...
This one is from Monday, July 2 (but is not an uncommon Monday experience in my world):
Ah, what a difference a day makes.
On Friday, I could hardly bear to leave my writing desk. I was so excited about what was happening, so full of questions and possibilities and what-comes-nexts...and this morning?
Stuck.
Bravely dove back into another attempt at the cafeteria scene, first day of school, the one one I had worked up a whole set of questions about at the end of Friday's session. I got no further than a page before I could feel my energy draining, the wall going up. That feeling of forcing it, of a drip instead of a steady flow of words onto the page. Of me, trying to manipulate Gabby (my main character) into some preconceived hole (or role) or situation. Like trying to ignite a fire with a soggy match.
All I wanted to do at that point was put my head down and sleep. (Okay, yes, I took about a 30-minute surface nap before the little voice in my head got me up and moving again. "Do something different," it said.)
A search for a little point-of-view advice led me back to a comment I had shared with a writer friend of mine just last month, something my yoga instructor said that fits a writing practice just as well:
"Find the magic zone where mental effort and exertion meet surrender and letting go."
Yes, that is what is needed today. Back to creating, dreaming, imagining, playing, and yes, back to the work of writing!
No comments:
Post a Comment