A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred
I am shocked to think I've been writing this journal for three hundred days. I think I missed one or two in the course, but that is probably to be expected, and really besides the point, as the thing that is most interesting is the way it has kept me motivated and also provided me a deeper awareness of my process. As well, it is also a good record for me of what I have done, if only in a general sense, and I think it is more that it has helped me to keep a mental log of the progress I have made.
In part, the big thing is that I am always keeping track of how much I write in a day. For example, regular readers know I have been focusing on writing four poems daily over the past week or so, and I am sure that writing about it has helped me to remain focused on that as the goal. As well, I am committing to doing that work when I write about here. Certainly, that is not ironclad. I know a number of projects that I've discussed here that have not seen fruition, in spite of my efforts, but I've not been slacking on writing as a general rule, and poetry has become a very significant focus for me of late, which I think has been encouraged by this journal.
A large part of that is the ability to consider my process that is provided here. I am certain that many of my entries are of little interest or value to most others, but I find it very useful to be able to have a record of my mental state and how my creative process flows over time. Right now, for example, I am feeling enthused by the increase to four poems, to the point that I am somewhat inspired to push towards five, but I know, from past experience, that this is premature. While I might, if I wish, write five poems in a day, pushing to do that each day would be a mistake. I realize this from considering the way that I felt at other times when I was in a similar spot in my creative cycle, and I am sure I would have less awareness of that if I weren't making the conscious effort to consider my daily writing in the way I do here.
To discuss my current place in that process, I am right now at the point where I am a bit giddy to know I can do this work, and that gives me the sense that I can do so much more, which may well be true, in the long term, but I also realize, having contemplated this feeling several times already, it is easy to fall into a place of stagnation where I don't have so much inspiration if I go too far too fast. It is not that I don't have faith that I could get to a point of writing even ten poems each day, it is that I know I need to work myself up to that place, because otherwise, I will burn out. Even now, though I feel stable at four poems, I am also still at the point where a regular contingency of those four poems is nothing more than an exercise, not anything that I think would be worth publishing in the current format. Writing those is almost always part of my routine, but not usually on a daily basis, and I am getting to the point where that is true at four poems a day, but inspiration is still lagging a bit. It is that inspiration which I have to train to do the extra work, and at some point it will cooperate, but it takes a bit before that is true. In the meantime, I am, thanks to this blog, aware of the difference, even when I feel incredible about the amount of work I am doing, and am happy writing an average of four poems a day, with the hope that I might do even more in the future.
In part, the big thing is that I am always keeping track of how much I write in a day. For example, regular readers know I have been focusing on writing four poems daily over the past week or so, and I am sure that writing about it has helped me to remain focused on that as the goal. As well, I am committing to doing that work when I write about here. Certainly, that is not ironclad. I know a number of projects that I've discussed here that have not seen fruition, in spite of my efforts, but I've not been slacking on writing as a general rule, and poetry has become a very significant focus for me of late, which I think has been encouraged by this journal.
A large part of that is the ability to consider my process that is provided here. I am certain that many of my entries are of little interest or value to most others, but I find it very useful to be able to have a record of my mental state and how my creative process flows over time. Right now, for example, I am feeling enthused by the increase to four poems, to the point that I am somewhat inspired to push towards five, but I know, from past experience, that this is premature. While I might, if I wish, write five poems in a day, pushing to do that each day would be a mistake. I realize this from considering the way that I felt at other times when I was in a similar spot in my creative cycle, and I am sure I would have less awareness of that if I weren't making the conscious effort to consider my daily writing in the way I do here.
To discuss my current place in that process, I am right now at the point where I am a bit giddy to know I can do this work, and that gives me the sense that I can do so much more, which may well be true, in the long term, but I also realize, having contemplated this feeling several times already, it is easy to fall into a place of stagnation where I don't have so much inspiration if I go too far too fast. It is not that I don't have faith that I could get to a point of writing even ten poems each day, it is that I know I need to work myself up to that place, because otherwise, I will burn out. Even now, though I feel stable at four poems, I am also still at the point where a regular contingency of those four poems is nothing more than an exercise, not anything that I think would be worth publishing in the current format. Writing those is almost always part of my routine, but not usually on a daily basis, and I am getting to the point where that is true at four poems a day, but inspiration is still lagging a bit. It is that inspiration which I have to train to do the extra work, and at some point it will cooperate, but it takes a bit before that is true. In the meantime, I am, thanks to this blog, aware of the difference, even when I feel incredible about the amount of work I am doing, and am happy writing an average of four poems a day, with the hope that I might do even more in the future.
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