Weather and Writing
The June heat is back and I'm not feeling terribly motivated. It seems to be getting dark, though, so maybe we will get a storm. It is hard to tell some times. The wind can shift just so and we arrive at a totally different outcome. This, of course, is much like writing.
No matter how much we plan, what actually emerges can be something totally different. How many times have we watched a movie where a twist happened right at the end? This is the same thing. It all depends on what is happening as we write and where the mood takes us. It depends also on our own interpretation of what we've written.
This doesn't mean that we should scrap the plan. It means that plans are guides. Sometimes we find a more a scenic route by veering off course just a bit. It may be that by the time we reach our destination, we realize our directions were off slightly. We can make adjustments accordingly. The main thing to remember is that whatever you're writing is yours to do with as you please.
Maybe the very last paragraph on our page is only one line across the written page. It sits there like a sore thumb. We can add to it. We could even take it away if that suits us better. No one dictates what to include and what not to. Another major point to remember is that writing should be fun. If you find that you're in the middle of a project and you find it isn't fun any more. Stop writing.
If you continue on the current path, chances are, you won't be happy with the outcomes. Put it aside and come back to it another time. You might be able to finish the piece and enjoy it at that time. If not, maybe the topic just wasn't for you. Try something else and see if it becomes fun again.
2 Bloggers have commented
You bring up a lot of issues I'm dealing with right now.
1. Giving in to languor in this heat.
2. Turning away from a project when it needs to "rest" for a while. The only troble is that I have 3 resting projects and one active one at the moment, and they all feel like children tugging at my coat.
The way I experience it, if things are moving along well in my writing, I feel a flow during the process, as if there is energy moveing through me onto the page. When things are not so great, I feel stagnant and frustrated. I had to put a memoir away and just do poetry for a while, because the memoir has become stuck. I think it's calling me back now, so I'm doing a workshop this weekend to unstick it. Workshops can be good for that.
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