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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

On Writing: Stay focused




I feel an emptiness in my chest right next to my heart and I know it's because its wounded. It aches and the pain travels across my body but I didn't mean for this to happen! Yes, I am the one to blame but I am also the one who can actually do something about it.

I've been trying, for I would be dammed if I didn't, but as long as I try to fix this, I fail, and the wound in my chest grows bigger and bigger. Lately the pain increases by the hour and I fear that the hole next to my heart will grow so big that will swallow it entirely.

My mind spins and I cannot stop thinking how sad it is to have the cure for a wounded heart and yet to be unable to do the fixing. And the cure I need consists of nothing more than five letters: write

I don't have time to write and it irritates me how cliché it sounds. So I'm changing it. Here. Now. Today. I let my mind free for some months, I only wrote once or twice a week, but it's not enough and it surely isn't satisfying.

I don't want to reach at the point where I'll feel my story slip away, especially now that it has taken the shape I wanted it to take since I wrote that book. Rewriting is not an easy task and I'll dare say that it is much harder than writing because you have to follow the guidelines you set up while writing the first draft. Or the first book in my case. 


As a writer be consistent, focused and disciplined.

So I need to make time.

Because that is what I permitted myself to forget: discipline.

I let myself relax and I just daydreamed of the story so much that I got carried away. As if the book was going to write itself! And then it was the job, the reading and the summer vacations that left me no time, and it was good, it was amazing, but that's enough.

Writing a book, editing one or rewriting needs sacrifices. You won't do it if you keep postponing it, or if you find excuses to postpone it. From my experience those past three years of writing I dare say that writing needs five things (if we can actually sum things up):


  • Inspiration: it can come from reading books, papers, news, form your own experiences, form a sudden idea.
  • Determination: you need to really want to do it. If it doesn't come from somewhere deep inside your soul, then none of the projects you’ll start will be completed. Be sure that it's the writing that drives you and not the idea of writing.
  • Voice: the more you write, the more you learn about the craft, the more you’ll find your own voice and that needs time. For some this road is longer than others but we all need to make some miles. It’s never too late to start heading down this road.
  • Thick skin: you going to have to delete, abandon or say goodbye to a project or a book. Maybe it will be you to decide it or the people who will read your story, but the thing is that you will have to make changes. Some may be bigger than others. And you won’t like it. But you'll have to. Give it time and then you'll know that you were wrong. So, be open, listen those who you trust and don't hesitate to explore other writing possibilities. There is always more than one ways to tell a story.
  • Love: as everything you do in life, if you don't love it, it will be just another task. You don’t want that. So give it love and let it grow.



4 comments:

  1. Daydreaming your project. That's the reason I want to write a story. It's because I can see these events that will never happen taking place in my head, and I want to will it into creation. Writing is nowhere near a priority for me, but this post has motivated me to continue. I need to take some time if I want to create. I hope you find time too.

    -M
    The Life of Little Me

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    1. This is good, M. It may not be a priority right now, but I think it's good to put on paper the thoughts that may some day be a story.

      I'm glad that you found motivation in my words. :)
      Thanks for stopping by and happy writing!

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  2. Sorry you haven't been writing as much as you'd like lately! Time is way too elusive for its own good, not to mention inspiration! I agree, determination is key to getting ahead with any creative project, especially since our muses really aren't much help by themselves, LOL.

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    1. It is elusive, Heather and It's so sad. But hey, we are as vulnerable as we permit ourselves to be and I won't let time beat me this time. :P

      Cheers to writing!

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