Memory is a funny thing…at least in my experience.
I’ll remember odd bits and pieces about things like my ex-husband’s social security number, but I’ll forget passwords to websites that I should remember.
Weird, huh?
My husband can remember his grade school locker combination, names of kids he went to school with in Kindergarten for goodness’ sake, but I have a hard time remembering more than a few people I graduated High School with.
What the heck is that all about?
Granted, sometimes having a poor memory works in my favor…like when I watch a movie that I vaguely remember watching years before, but have forgotten all about. Some parts I remember, some I don’t.
Is there a part of the brain known as a secretary? If there is, she (or he, lol) needs fired!
Anyway, the reason why I bring up my sieve of a memory is that I’ve been struggling all weekend with the “writing blues”.
My story isn’t going as quickly (or easily) as I’d like, so I’ve been putting off working on it.
It’s actually fear, and every writer faces it from time to time. The trick is finding out how to get past it.
Thankfully, I was trying to catch up on my Dean Wesley Smith blogs and he reminded me of the fact that I’m not performing brain surgery…I’m making stuff up! It takes practice…and BIC (butt in chair!)
In his blog he was discussing a recent challenge he completed. He wrote a couple of books (one fiction, one non-fiction)in five days while in Las Vegas gambling with some of his poker buddies.
Yeah, you read that right…five days!
Bam…shot that myth dead, didn’t he?
Maybe we should give him the nickname “Myth Killer”! 😛
Specifically, he said, “So as I have been talking about (the last three nights in these posts) finding ways to get out of your own way with writing, to kill your own myths, it is important to watch out about making the time sitting in the chair special.”
He goes on to say, ”
So When We Are Writing, What is Actually Special?
I got a few ideas…
—Writing new words is special. Period. Nothing beyond that, nothing about the words or the content or the amount, just new words.
— Writing the story you want to tell is special. For many writers, they seldom give themselves the gift of actually telling a story they want to tell. Writing to market, fear, not feeling ready are three major reasons writers don’t just tell a story they want to tell. There are others.
—Enjoying the writing process is special. When I am sitting and living inside the characters and story I am telling, not paying attention to real-world-time passing, that is special. I don’t enjoy finishing a story or novel so much. And nothing really excites me about starting a project. But when I am just free and telling a story to myself, now that is special.”
BTW – if you haven’t read Dean’s website, you’re welcome! …love that guy, the way he tells it like it is…(secretly jealous, really…I’m a “conflict shy” kind of person…hence the jealousy, lol)
I’ve got to write myself a couple of notes and put them where I can see them all the time.
Maybe on my phone?
They are…
- “Trust the process”
- “Write the next sentence”
- “Fear is simply the critical voice protecting you from a non-existent threat”
- “It’s just practice…keep it up”
That, along with Heinlein’s rules. 😀
How do you slay the nagging dragon?
