A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Seventy
I just realized that I passed the one year mark on keeping this journal. It had been my intent to mark that day here, but I was not paying attention, and so I am a few days late. However, I do think it is still worth my considering just how far I have come within the past year, and to acknowledge how much I feel I owe to the keeping of this journal.
In the past year I've made a great deal of progress as a writer, and I really do think this journal has been central to my recent achievements. Over the time I've been keeping this journal, I've already written my second novel, several short stories, and a great many poems. I really am not certain of the exact count, but I believe it is over a thousand at this point. As well, I have, more recently, begun the process of submitting work for publication, with a bit of success in that already.
All of this began here, with my beginning this daily record of my writing. It has served to keep me on target, giving me a sense that I have an obligation to the work and am accountable for meeting it. I don't want to come on here and speak about how I didn't do my work today, and I certainly don't want to skip a day on here, which acts as a strong incentive for me to write each day.
As well, keeping this journal has also helped me stay on task by letting me work through the various blocks that come up. I don't sit and stew over the problems as I might have in the past, but instead write about them. This not only serves as a constructive way of working through those issues, but also has given me a broader view. Many times, I come to this journal and write about difficulties I faced in the day's work, only to realize that I am discussing problems I've had before.
Even more than that, I can see the patterns and cycles of those things. My ego is able to see that these issues come and go, that they are just a part of the process and not a reflection on me in any deeper sense. When the work drags or it becomes difficult to keep going, I look back and almost invariably find that I am at a certain point in my process. I see how these issues often crop up just as I am making a discovery or adjusting to new ideas and techniques. It makes these things feel external, like dealing with bad weather.
For years, I wanted to be writing more, but could not get myself into gear. Starting this journal was a turning point for me. Now, of course, the very act of keeping this blog, even before I started my writer's notebook posts, was a huge part of that shift, but it was when I began writing about my work each day that things really began to change. I cannot be certain, really, if this is what catalyzed that, or if it that I was ready and so began this journal as part of that process, but in either case, it is certain that the start of this journal marked a major shift in my work, and I am extremely glad, not only for those changes but also for the record I am keeping of them.
In the past year I've made a great deal of progress as a writer, and I really do think this journal has been central to my recent achievements. Over the time I've been keeping this journal, I've already written my second novel, several short stories, and a great many poems. I really am not certain of the exact count, but I believe it is over a thousand at this point. As well, I have, more recently, begun the process of submitting work for publication, with a bit of success in that already.
All of this began here, with my beginning this daily record of my writing. It has served to keep me on target, giving me a sense that I have an obligation to the work and am accountable for meeting it. I don't want to come on here and speak about how I didn't do my work today, and I certainly don't want to skip a day on here, which acts as a strong incentive for me to write each day.
As well, keeping this journal has also helped me stay on task by letting me work through the various blocks that come up. I don't sit and stew over the problems as I might have in the past, but instead write about them. This not only serves as a constructive way of working through those issues, but also has given me a broader view. Many times, I come to this journal and write about difficulties I faced in the day's work, only to realize that I am discussing problems I've had before.
Even more than that, I can see the patterns and cycles of those things. My ego is able to see that these issues come and go, that they are just a part of the process and not a reflection on me in any deeper sense. When the work drags or it becomes difficult to keep going, I look back and almost invariably find that I am at a certain point in my process. I see how these issues often crop up just as I am making a discovery or adjusting to new ideas and techniques. It makes these things feel external, like dealing with bad weather.
For years, I wanted to be writing more, but could not get myself into gear. Starting this journal was a turning point for me. Now, of course, the very act of keeping this blog, even before I started my writer's notebook posts, was a huge part of that shift, but it was when I began writing about my work each day that things really began to change. I cannot be certain, really, if this is what catalyzed that, or if it that I was ready and so began this journal as part of that process, but in either case, it is certain that the start of this journal marked a major shift in my work, and I am extremely glad, not only for those changes but also for the record I am keeping of them.
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