A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Fifty-Six

Today was the first day since I had increased to five poems when I really felt the enthusiasm wane a bit.  It wasn't at all to do with my fifth poem, but instead was earlier, when I set down to work this evening.  I had written two poems already, this morning, and sat down at my desk to do my work for the evening.

It took me some time to really get started, and I could hear certain negative, judgmental voices echoing at the back of my mind.  I did not have a clear sense of what I wanted to write, and that was a large part of what contributed to that feeling.  What is funny, though, is that yesterday I also needed to think up what to write as I was setting to work, so it is clearly not about that actual condition.

My thinking tends to be that, at least in part, this is just the noise that I need to get through to do the work.  I mean, my negative thoughts are sort of like an obstacle that my unconscious is sending out to make me prove I am dedicated.  It may be that this is not true, but it is still a helpful perspective for me.  It allows me to confront those negative voices without arguing, but instead just letting them go for a few minutes.  If I stay at the computer, eventually I will have something to write.  In some cases, actually, I might come up with a line that is just me copying a thing I said internally as part of that negative self-talk.  Once I let go and step back, I am able to move past whatever anxiety those ideas represent and into a space of creative freedom.

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