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

I continued work on that play script, and I think I have some sense of what it is building towards, though the idea is still a bit strange and I am thinking it may be a bit dry in terms of the writing at present.  All that will work out, I think, once I have a bit more of a sense of what I am doing in the arc of it, but right now I can see some of how it is developing and certain tensions that are bubbling up in ways that may be really fun.

As well, I did write several new poems.  I think that I am doing some really interesting work in that regard, and some of what I am writing feels rather strange to me in ways I hadn't quite expected.  I'm feeling a lack of certainty about some of this new work, really, but that's probably a sign of my doing work that is important for me in some sense.  I mean, it seems to me that I should be pushing and stretching myself to write and do work that goes beyond what I've been capable of before, and that might mean doing things that frighten me or take me to places I am uncomfortable with on some level.  This is important, and it may not be that the resulting work is always going to be the work I need to publish or that will last, but I know that the lessons of forcing myself beyond what I am comfortable with are very significant.  In addition, of course, I hope that going in these directions might yield work directly, but I am not placing that pressure upon any of the poems I do, but instead just allowing them to unfold.

It is the act of forcing a poem, or really any piece of writing, that I think creates the most stress and blocks me the most.  Now, this may not be true for others, but now that I am engaging in the process of just sitting and waiting for the work to just happen, I am finding I can write far more easily.  In terms of poetic works, this is a fairly intuitive approach, though I do have many false starts at times.  Still, ultimately I am giving myself permission to not write, but I am also not giving myself the ability to shirk on the responsibility.  I sit at the computer and wait, and I know that diligence will be rewarded at some point, if I am patient.  And, it becomes a faster and easier thing, as that part of me that chooses to start learns that there aren't really any excuses, and that there are also no real negative repercussions for doing the work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Writer's Notebook, Day Two-Hundred-And-Fifty

Each of the three pieces I wrote today was a bit of a struggle to get going, if I am honest.  That happens, as I have mentioned, and my answer is generally to just wait it out, and the results vary.  A lot of the time, if I am really stuck, I might try to force something out, often it winds up being a bit meta, with me writing about being stuck without much in terms of inspiration, and it feels a bit like I am working scales in a way.  All the aesthetic decisions are there, they just don't always have a lot of purpose behind them, and that is fine in that context.  Essentially, I am just forcing myself to do the work, and getting it done, and I am showing myself that I can and will do it even if inspiration never strikes.  This can often take pressure off, and that lack of pressure opens up creative thinking and inspiration. Now, that is a fine thing for me to do, and I am likely to use that approach again many times in the future, but today I felt that I want...
Read more

Le Guin, Steering The Craft, Chapter Five: Adjectives and Adverbs (Exercise Five, Chastity)

A note of apology for my lateness with this.  I had expected to have time earlier in the day, but it was not to be, alas.  Anyhow, I am still a bit nervous about this exercise, though it is clearly of significant import to Le Guin, as she points out that it is the only exercise that she has given to all of her workshops.  That, of course, does not alter my feelings about it, excepting that I am aware of it as something valuable and worth doing, so the fact that it is a bit daunting might well be seen, through that light, as a promise of reward, perhaps.  The more difficult the task, the more one has to gain, at least by some logic... Exercise Five: Chastity Mr. Torino was in charge.  He had his way.  It was the way.  Desktops are clean.  Nothing but work.  No pictures: not your kids; not your girl or wife; not (as Allen recounted) your car.   None of that.  No plants.  No cartoons.  That is for home, this is work....
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-And-Fifty-Nine

I have been thinking about how I can discuss certain aspects of my poetry and the choices I make as a writer.  In particular, I tend to write without as much reliance on sensory details and descriptions, instead choosing more abstract depictions.  This is something that I know many writers would call an odd choice, as specificity seems inherently to demand the application of detail, but I tend to be a bit hesitant about relying on depictions that utilize the senses, as I find that approach somewhat problematic.  For one thing, sensory description is always going to be less than universal, and not only because of the reality that there are individuals who lack one or more sense.  In many ways, for me, the deeper problem is one related to language itself.  Our use of language creates our experiences in a very real way, though I can't necessarily offer a full explanation of what I mean by that right here, but using a word for an object bestows qualities on it....
Read more