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

I have to get myself into a real scene in this novel.  Even now, as I have been getting more towards things with the characters, I haven't really written anything that is truly grounded in a specific event, but it is all still more detached and descriptive.  I need to get into the actual events and I think that will help me to find the way forwards in writing this piece.  It is strange to me that I am having this difficulty, in some ways, as many would say that the writing I am attempting here is less ambitious, but I don't think that is really the truth, I just think it is a bit different than my usual focus.  It is probable that difference is making things harder for me right now, since I am not used to writing this type of fiction, but I think that is only a part of it.  The truth is that I am still just a bit lost about the way to get this piece to work and how exactly to tell the story I want to tell, or even, perhaps, exactly what that story is in some ways.  I have a sense of the major aspects of the story, but I am still struggling to get it into focus.  I still have faith that if I keep going, at some point, I will find my way, otherwise I wouldn't still be showing up to the page each day.  It does not mean it is any less difficult or disconcerting, but I have faith, and I want to believe that this difficulty is actually a positive sign of my having hit on a subject with deep personal resonance, that when I get through these initial barriers, I will have opened the gates on something powerful.

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