A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-Five-Hundred-And-Thirty-Two

I am feeling very frustrated tonight.  It is not all that unusual, really, but it is more acute at the moment than usual.  It is not clear to me why, honestly, as nothing happened in particular.  I just feel that sense of being stuck and not knowing what to do about it.  Maybe if I were feeling more on track with this new novel, but, as I said last night, I am still finding my way with it and am not even certain that I am writing the thing I had intended when I started.  Perhaps I should start work on some work that is more clearly fiction, not that I would stop working on this if I did that.  I would just put another iron in the fire, as it were.  I don't want to spread myself too thin with the writing, but I also know that I am not writing nearly as much as I have at times in the recent past.  It might be that I need to liberate myself in writing this piece to just let it be whatever it will become, but right now, I kind of still want it to be fiction because I am committed to the idea of having a fiction project going with the same consistency as my poetry and, more recently, non-fiction.  It is kind of silly, I know, and it shouldn't really matter that much.  I know many other writers who would call it madness having multiple projects going at once, but I am thinking it might be the thing I need to do right now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem: Neighborhood Inhabitants

Neighborhood Inhabitants There was a fox once, and another time, otters, and now a peacock that we think got lost during one of the storms. She stays down on the other end of the street, though, does not visit us. We have a racoon family that stays in our tree some nights, and there is a baby lizard, a brown basilisk, who we have seen several times. It is not supposed to be here, is invasive and troublesome to the local ecosystem, as are the duck.  I hear there are giant snails now who eat stucco or concrete or something of that sort. I have not seen one, though, I just heard they are here and big as my fist.
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, One-Thousand-Eight-Hundred-And-Seventy-Three

I am still finding it difficult to get back to a more productive work schedule at the moment.  In part, I am sure it is that I gave myself permission to slack off a bit, and it is difficult to walk that back, especially because I am still writing and being productive, even if not to the same degree. I know it would be good to get back to doing more writing, but I also know that I am still meeting my core obligations, even if at a more minimal level.  Really, I just need to make the choice and force myself to stick to it.  To that end, I am planning to at least get back to work on my longer projects again tomorrow, even if I don't increase the poetry output right away.
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-One-Hundred-And-Thirty-Three

I received my acceptance to attend workshop at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival next year and am very excited to be working with Matthew Olzmann, a poet whose work I have admired for some time.  He has a rare capacity for being simultaneously absurd and serious in ways that are hysterical, but with devastating insights underneath.  I feel quite fortunate to have the PBPF, and can say, honestly, that each workshop I have attended there has been incredible.  As a person who has taken many workshops in my life, and who often finds them wanting, I am always astounded at the caliber of the classes at the festival, both in the instruction and in the community of poets I have encountered.  I only wish it could be more than just one week out of the year.
Read more