I'm writing a blog post - again.
Seems it was only last week when I was doing this, and funnily enough, it was.
It's amazing how we get caught up in routines. Go to work, come home. Write a post, send a tweet. I reckon I've got the whole thing down pat.
The only problem is, you can get so caught up in the things you're always doing, that it becomes hard to break out to do something different. And as someone who likes to think of themselves as a creative sort of person, getting caught in that routine can get to feel quite stifling.
I think that's one of the big challenges of the modern age. Our lives are all so planned and regimented, so run by outside influences such as work and technology, that it seems like a challenge to try to do the simple things that allow you to feel like an individual.
A big challenge for me is not only finding the time to write, but making sure my mind is in the right sort of "mode" when I do find that time. When I finally get to sit down at my computer with a blank screen in front of me, I'm usually pretty zonked out after a busy day of work and family and all that other stuff. Getting my brain into that relaxed state where it can roam wild and free, in order to keep my stories moving forward in ways that don't seem forced, can be really hard work.
Yet, amazingly, I seem to be able to do it. In those tiny little windows of time, I'm definitely making progress, and I'm generally pretty pleased with that progress. Maybe that's just another part of my routine. Maybe my brain has had so much practice at unleashing itself when required that it is able to do it easily and naturally. I have no idea. I just try and go with the flow.
Anyway, I'll talk to you again next week - because that's when I'll be sitting down again to write my next post.
It always amazed me that I wrote as much as I did whilst still working. Now, having all the time in the world, I write very little by comparison. And by ‘little’ I mean fiction. I doubt there’s a day goes by and I’ve not written a thousand words on some subject. So I’m living the life of a writer but I still don’t feel like one. I probably never will. When I was working though I simply got into the habit on scribbling down ideas whenever they came to me. In that respect I was never not writing. When I got home the notebook would get pulled out and I’d graft what I’d written elsewhere into whatever I was working on at the time. I’ve never been especially good at sitting down at a specific time every day and writing. I can do it with nonfiction okay but not fiction and I especially can’t produce poetry to order. I think if I was more of a storyteller it might help but I’m really not that interested in telling tales. I’m interested in working things out and it just so happens that working in a fictionalised setting works best. But that’s me. None of us are the same so there’s no point whinging about it. The hardest thing I think for any new writer is working out how they work, what’s natural for them, and then learning to maximise what they do whilst working within those limitations.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim,
DeleteThanks again for the comment. Sometimes I feel like the only things I'm maximising are my limitations.