Flow
Friday, June 29th, 2007
And still she does not write.
China Blue wrote a very interesting post on writer’s block the other day. She was basically saying that the process of thinking of herself as a writer stalled her writing. That might have happened to me too, but I’m not totally sure about it.
When I was a kid I wrote. No one told me to; no one took any pleasure in my writing or encouraged it much, but I enjoyed it and just wrote. I wrote poetry, and short stories. Poetry developed into songwriting in my mid-teens, then songwriting evolved into music (and so on). And yet the songwriting remained.
Without being big-headed, I was the best songwriter in my class at music college, the others weren’t as interested in it as me. Sometimes I’d read out my lyrics and experience a hush of appreciation from the class before their applause. I wasn’t the best singer, but I was happy to be the best songwriter. I was determined to be the next Diane Warren.
I miss it. The writing. The passion. That head space where anything can emerge. The subconscious is a turbulent receptacle of emotions and I love to delve into its depths. So why aren’t I writing?
I don’t necessarily want to be the next JK Rowling, but I do want to write books that people will read. Although sometimes I think of writing in a more literary style, I know that I’m more suited towards writing quality commercial fiction.
But it’s not going to happen unless I turn on the tap and let it all flood out of me.
First the waterfall, then the river.
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
8:26 pm on 29-Jun-07
God, that sums up exactly what I think and feel, too. Trying to get back in touch with that creative source is like chasing after a cloud – it looks pretty solid and touchable from afar, but the moment you get close, it evaporates. What to do? Pretend it’s not there and wait for it to come back, or gently coax it out of wherever it’s hiding? I wish I knew.
8:02 pm on 30-Jun-07
Waterfalls and rivers are natural things… I am not a natural writer. Perhaps we are reservoirs, building up our reserves until our dams burst and we have no control of the outpour?
Empathise entirely with this post, if it’s any consolation…
X
2:39 am on 1-Jul-07
Tell yourself it’s okay to write crap. Heck, revel in the crap!
You just might find a few gems in there…
4:13 pm on 3-Jul-07
Nice post. this perfectly described me:”I do want to write books that people will read”.
I don’t have a waterfall. I have more of a water fountain, which needs to be turned on to be used. Once turned on, however, I get at least a few moments of quality writing
1:51 pm on 5-Jul-07
I’d have to agree with Jen’s reservoir analogy above. I’m constantly thinking of things to write but actually getting them written down seems to be where the process slows down. So now I have all these ideas backing up in my brain…hopefully it doesn’t burst!