Because of life.
Because of time.
Because of too little time.
Because of too much time.
Because I’m at a renaissance festival.
Because I’m preparing for a renaissance festival.
Because I’m recovering from a renaissance festival.
Because I have to do dishes.
Because I have to do laundry.
Because I have to cook dinner.
Because I have to do more dishes.
Why are there still dirty dishes?
Because I’ve been reading too much.
Because I haven’t been reading enough.
Because I’ve been reading the wrong things.
(more…)
Tag: obstacles
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Because I have no good excuse to not write
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A Mostly-True Tale
These would pop up on any normal day in my life. “I need to write tonight,” I say. I just got home from an extra-long day at work. “I didn’t get anything done this morning.”
Well, that’s not strictly true. I did get a lot done: I exercised for forty minutes; put one load of laundry in the dryer, washed another and got it into the dryer, too; ate breakfast; washed the dishes from breakfast along with the cat bowls; started the dishwasher; and watered the plants outside. Oh, yeah, I took out the trash and recycling, too.
Then my work cell phone rang. I had just opened my work in progress and the cursor was flashing at me. Ignore it, the screen says to me. Don’t answer.
I have to, of course. There’s a problem and I have to go in earlier than I’m supposed to. I close Scrivener, log out of the computer and saddle up. Off to my work day.
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The Redwood Retreat
Once upon a time, in the fabled woods of the writing life, a quaint cottage nestled in the trunk of a giant redwood. A magic garden provided food for its inhabitant(s) with just the tiniest bit of foraging; a fresh stream ran through the kitchen. Inside the cottage stood a desk and many shelves of books, lovely novels that teased the imagination into ever-expanding realms. Endless stacks of paper remained perfectly aligned there by an array of fountain pens with all possible colors of ink and the smoothest tips. Only the music of birds disturbed the air in that writer’s paradise, and the bold weaver of worlds woke up well-rested each morning, wrote several thousand words of brilliance before noon, and polished the previous day’s already-sparkling prose to greater clarity, humor, and communicative power in the afternoon.
Ah, to live there. Ah, to have no obstacles to writing–no time management problems, no distractions, no depression or cynicism, no other job, no basic human urges to satisfy, no human relationships tempting us away from the paper and pencil, no headache-inducing stress that makes you watch television mindlessly for hours rather than writing.
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Four horsemen
Too much time on my hands. Not enough deadlines. No vision. Worries.
These are the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
“Too much time on my hands” is a tricky fellow. He appears at first to be a blessing. I think, “Now I will have time to finish that novel.” But no, it does not work that way. With all the time in the world I wind up not using any of it for anything of importance. Since I am a stay-at-home parent for this year, I could easily fall into this trap if I let myself. In order to combat “Too much time on hands,” I schedule each day with specific and accomplishable tasks so that writing time is a reward I grant myself after the chores are done.
Not enough deadlines. This is not a problem now that I am writing every Wednesday for the Confabulator Cafe. I thrive on deadlines and my best work has been on self-imposed deadlines I took on in order to enter contests. That is how I combat this second horseman, by looking up writing contests where the deadlines are fast approaching then writing something specifically to be entered in that contest.
No vision. This is the most ephemeral of the horsemen. It clouds my mind and makes me think things that aren’t true like “I don’t have anything important to say” or “All I know is what I DON’T want to do.” In order to counteract this horseman, I return to the basics. I ask myself “What do I enjoy?” and “What makes me happy?” Another phrase which works wonders is “What types of things do I like to read?” I make small projects that are just for me. The smaller the better. Specific and easy to maintain are also desirable qualities for these teeny tiny visioneering devices. Almost always they grow until they are large enough to show others, and I can’t even remember what my problem was when I had no vision.
Worries. Stress is such a foe. It seems to suck the will to be creative out of a person. Stress leans over off his horse and says “Why bother with writing, you and I both know there’s no point. You’re just fooling yourself with these distractions.” It’s really insidious, because there are concerns that we have to be concerned with. But do they really need to take up every single waking (and dreaming) minute of our days (and nights)? There is always going to be stuff to wring one’s hands over. I can’t very well tell people to try to forget that they are going through medical stuff or that their financial situation is perilous. That is the sort of reality that hits one in the face like a frying pan. Someday I will learn how to be at one with the universe and not worry at all. In the meantime I am going to take walks, drink lots of water, empty my mind of thoughts, and minimize the things in my surroundings that give rise to the voice of that horseman of worries.
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Writer’s Obstacle Course
Chapter 1…*blinking cursor*
First sentence, first sentence. Let’s see. Hmm. It’s got to be grabby. My main character has to be in the middle of something, something crazy and chaotic. Well, I can clearly see her in my head, rushing around with pillows and blankets, her house overrun by needy supernatural creatures of all sorts.
All sorts? That’s kind of vague. Let’s take a minute and figure out all the different creatures and why they’re there.
I need to organize this. Where are my index cards?
*stares at pile of blank index cards.*
It’s too soon to write anything down in permanent ink. Where’s my white board?
Is it really ten already? I haven’t eaten anything yet. I should eat. I can’t think when I’m starving.
Holy hell, that’s a lot of dishes. Well, I can’t do them until I empty the dishwasher.
God, I’m so hungry. What’s in the fridge?
Gross. I have to clean this out. There’s no real food, just a bunch of leftovers that need to be thrown out. I should clean out the fridge so I can go to the grocery store and buy real food.
The trash can is full. Have to take out the garbage before I can empty out the fridge. Also, with all the dishes in the sink, I hate to add to it with the gunky containers after I throw out the leftovers.
I’ll eat later. First, I should pee.
While I’m in here, I should take a shower. The bathtub really needs to be cleaned. I could do that while I’m in it.
If I shower, I have to get dressed afterwards. Do I have any clean clothes? Technically, yes. But they’re still in the washing machine from two days ago. Probably should run the washer again to freshen them up.
No reason to shower, I guess, if I don’t have anything to put on.
Crap. Is it Friday? I thought it was Thursday. I have to write a blog post. I’ll do that real quick. It’s already late. Then I have to post the link on Twitter and Facebook.
Oooh, I just thought of a perfect first sentence!
Chapter 1…
*blinking cursor*
I am so hungry.
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Obstacle or Excuse?
The biggest obstacle that keeps me from writing is the same thing that enables me to write in the first place: my mind.
My mind never stops. Even when I’m trying to sleep. Especially when I am trying to sleep. I worry and doubt and question and berate constantly. I have an idea, but as soon as I have an idea I have another idea. But then I worry that I should be doing something else. Or I really should be doing something else, so guilt keeps me from writing. Or my mind gets distracted. Shiny! Internet. Work. Friends. Family. Sleep. Eating. Chores. Errands.
My mind constantly tries to prioritize all of the things going on in my life, and most days, writing ends up at the bottom of the list.
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Ignoring the Obstacles
This week has been a difficult one for writing. I could share with you a tale of woe, lamenting the various obstacles that have kept me from my writing. But it would only be half true. You see, while there are a number of obstacles to writing, I alone allow them to distract me. I am my biggest obstacle.
Forget about the obstacles between you and your goal. They don't matter. Unless they're hungry. You know writers. We all have ADHD and are easily distracted by shiny objects. I’m no different.
The truth is, I’ve been working for several months to simplify my life. I’ve tried to remove myself from every obligation that didn’t help me achieve my goals as a writer.
I stopped writing film reviews. I ended my web design consulting. I curtailed my Facebook activity. And I’ve tried to cut down on my weekly consumption of television.
So you’d think I’d have plenty of time for writing, right? Not so.
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Being Fear’s Bitch: A Guide to Not Writing
Stop being a filthy, damned liar. The only thing keeping you from writing is you.
You don’t have the time? Make time. You’ve got a busy life? Then schedule it in. Either start being honest about the reason you’re not writing, or start being honest about the fact that you don’t want it enough to make it happen. Because if you did want to see this thing through, you’d start sacrificing to get there.
The true reason you aren’t writing is because you’re afraid. You think you’re not good enough or smart enough or clever enough. You don’t value your own perspective. You think anything you had worth saying has probably already been written by someone else, and you bet they were a lot more talented than some coffee-shop hack with a laptop.
You know why you write in restaurants? Because strangers feel less judgmental than family. Those people ordering lunch have no idea what you’re working on. They probably don’t give a good god damn about you anyway, and they sure as hell don’t have a clue about what you secretly hope to achieve. Anonymous is neutral and numbing and safe.
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Decisively, A Writer
“But the cure for most obstacles is, Be decisive.” – George Weinberg
Life has a tendency to step on its own toes. Our interests and pass-times are more diverse and numerous than ever in human history. Our own worst enemy is sometimes our success.Once upon a time, if you were a writer, you probably didn’t have many other hobbies or interests outside of reading and writing. Now, there is the Internet, our phones, the Internet on our phones. Any interest worth having is accessible by simply getting in a car and driving to it.
There are times when I think we, as artists, were better off when we had nothing to do other than work on our craft. There are some amazing things available in the modern era. Writers can research nearly any topic without leaving their desks. It has never been easier for writers to network with one another, nor to get their work out there for people to see. Submissions are made instantaneously through email and responses come just the same.
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Obstacle Course (Week of 23 April 2012)
In life there are thousands of obstacles that can run a writer’s best laid plans aground: meetings, power outages, illness, you know, the Sudden Things. Then there are the Things that we know about, the Potential Things: families, work, friends, pets, school. All these Things are somehow accounted for and yet we know that they’ll make us miss our writing time if we let them.
Here at the Cafe, we do our best to cope with those Things. The best laid plans and better mousetraps and all the cliches that go along with the platitudes about the difficulties of life are part of the everyday for writers. This week the Confabulators are going to tell us how they deal with these things, how they overcome the problems that pop up to keep them from writing. These are many and varied and you may be surprised at what we say.
So here’s your table. We’ll take your order when you’re ready. In the meantime, read up on our ideas of how life gets in the way of creating stories to keep you entertained.
