Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Why it's good to push yourself



Two weeks ago, a miracle happened. I had the house to myself for the weekend. That's almost three full days without the TV squawking, the constant inquiry of "Mommy, can I...." and the interruptions of my husband's friends. What did I do with this glorious time? Well, yes I did reserve a few moments for bubble baths, celebratory drinks, junk food, and trashy movies. But most of the time I dedicated to my writing. I knew that I would not get another opportunity for uninterrupted solitude, and I needed to use it. I set myself the seemingly impossible goal of 10,000 words for the weekend.

Well, just five minutes before midnight on that Sunday night, I accomplished my goal. Getting started was the hardest part, but there were many moments when the blinking cursor seemed to ask, "What now?" and I did not have an answer. Still, I blundered through, writing some lifeless crud that I know will be cut in the next draft. But as I plugged along, often an amazing thing happened. The story would jolt to life like Frankenstein's monster (couldn't resist the Halloween-esque analogy) and it seemed the words poured out from my fingertips on their own. It was magical and I was living the story along with the characters.

It happened again today. I had hoped to have this draft finished by Friday, but I have little hope, because I was sick for the last three days. Still, I'm going to try. This morning, hacking and sneezing away, I forced myself in front of the word processor, I had a staring contest with the blinking cursor and won. The story has come back and I'm excited about it once more.

Does this happen to you? Please, tell me of your ups and downs in story creation.

4 comments:

  1. Excellent post. :-) I'm the same way - I have limited time to write, and I don't want to squander it, so I force myself to write even when I'm not "feeling" it. It normally only takes a few sentences to get into the groove - but even if I never find the groove, I always make progress. And that keeps my brain in good writing shape, IMO.

    Great job doing 10k in one weekend - I hope you get the chance again soon! :-)

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  2. Great post! Yes, OMG it happens to me. Writing through it is great advice ;o) I usually read or something when I get stuck as another device to get me going. It always works ;o)

    Nice job on the 10K!!

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  3. Thanks so much you guys! You reminded me of something I forgot to add. I'm not sure if I would have made my goal if it weren't for you and my other online buddies cheering me on.
    *hugs* to all of you!

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  4. I'm so glad I'm not the only one with crud in their book. LOL. I'm working on the NaNo and powering through but ran into a few 'rough' spots.
    Thanks for stopping by Lynn's interview at http://ciaraknight.wordpress.com. It was a pleasure to meet you!

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