Can we do it? Can we really control when we write and how often? I’m sure many writers are able to do so; the same type who keep household budgets, visit the folks on Sunday, and eat pizza every Friday night. And this is not a disparaging description—these are all good things. It reveals a character who has mastered organization, dedication, discipline, and willpower. I have the dedication part down pat.
Although I have learned to control my impulses after the words are written down, meaning revising and editing, it is still difficult for me not to sit down and write, but to get up and do everything else that needs to be done. Perhaps this is just an open floodgate reaction to repression of what appears to be a thirty-year stockpile of words within my brain, or perhaps I’ve learned a ladylike prattle.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
This is a fairly common phenomenon amongst writers. We will take out the garbage, change the oil in the car, scrub out the toilets, shovel out the chicken coop, and repair that faucet that has been dripping for six months before sitting down to write. It might be a symptom of white page syndrome (or do we call it White Screen Syndrome now?).
Yes, I know the feeling! But I seem to have the opposite problem lately–since I started Spinning I can’t seem to stop writing, and there’s still no Christmas tree at our house. Although those essays that were due this past semester were not always faced with gleeful anticipation and dedication. Here’s where a deadline helped!
My friend Rick DeMarinis always claimed that writing’s scary because thinking is and that it’s 80 percent physical labor. Isn’t there a question of decisions to be made here. The white writing surface must be filled. It’s like having to cross a desert in search of water. Pulling a story off is demanding. Most writers won’t make the effort, will ignore the detailed study necessary. The characters will call you. Write me. Get me out into the open.
Hi Prof! All my energy and creativity is going into writing right now, and all I want to do is write. Even if it’s not my stories which will have to wait, I want, I want, I’m going to be a writer! But what you gentlemen are defining is much more the typical scenario, and that is so much worse than the problem of over-energized writing drives. I believe that’s why these weblogs are helping out writers–it gives them the ambition, drive, deadline and support.
Also, I’m glad to hear those voices in my head are my characters; and, I’m mighty glad to hear them.