Some writers are in the midst of National Novel Writing Month. Others can't get beyond the blank page. In today's Salad Bowl Saturday offering Denise Weeks, aka Shalanna Collins, provides her thoughts on how to face your fears and take the plunge.
~ Jim
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Many people want to write.
By daring to write, they could work through their personal issues; they
could tell about important moments in the past so their children will know them
better; they could make up things and tell entertaining lies like every
fictioneer. Writing can help you make up
your mind; after all, how do I know what I think until I write about it?
But often people are afraid--and understandably so. They use a smokescreen of reasonable-sounding
excuses and procrastinate so that they never fulfill their destinies as
writers. Do you want to write? You might as well. Everyone is publishing now. Why not you?
You are unique. As the song says,
"there will never be another you."
You alone have the honor of documenting your life and times, at the very
least. What will be your legacy?
Yes, YOU have a RIGHT to your legacy! You're just as important as those other
people who are turning out books, poems, songs, and Kindle shorts. You need to get it in gear, dear.
If you write professionally, aspire to write professionally,
write as a fan, write for your circle of friends/readers, write for therapy, or
whatever, these questions may help you progress. Don't feel that you have to
use ALL of them--you can cherry-pick. Or don't use any of them. It's up to you,
because this is meant to help you write (or not).
Complete one or both of the following sentences, using your
current top reason for not writing more or finishing your novel:
I can't finish my current novel because ...
I can't write more because ...
Would it make more sense to replace "can't" in the
above sentence(s) with "don't," "won't," or "I'm
afraid to"? Sometimes at the root of a writing reluctance/difficulty is
some underlying fear. Are you allowing fear to prevent you from
attempting/achieving? Does this make it easier, because you "aren't really
trying" and therefore will never discover that "you're not
worthy" or "not good enough?"
You must identify and acknowledge fear (or internal
stressors, or blocks, or whatever) before you can remove it. In fact, you must
be READY to remove it before you can begin to deal with it.
What are your most time-consuming daily activities? Are they things like "cleaning
house," "driving/commuting/hauling family members around,"
"watching TV," "messing on the computer (but not producing
original work)," and the like? Are
these what you would like to be remembered for?
Replace one of those daily activities with writing
time. Fifteen minutes daily will do for
a start. You don't have to write during
this ENTIRE time, but you do have to sit in the chair and stare at the page,
occasionally making marks that might be Roman alphabet letters or Egyptian
hieroglyphics. If you need writing
prompts, search on the 'net. Hundreds of
sites provide daily or weekly prompts for writers. Or if there's a novel you have always wanted
to write . . . start. The first sentence
doesn't have to be perfect. Writing is
rewriting. So let yourself do
garbage. You can always fix it later.
If you can't get going on a computer screen, use pen and
paper. Get the best gel pen or fountain
pen you can afford, in a pretty color, and get a nice Moleskine notebook. Or write with crayon on a Big Chief pad (but
don't blame me if your crayon smears.)
Do the lines across the page keep your Muse from singing? Turn the pad to "landscape" mode
and write ACROSS it. Use a sketchbook
and write across the blank page in a spiral, if that helps. Whatever works. This is for YOU alone at first. No one is grading you. Just get words down for your fifteen minutes.
It'll get easier, I promise.
Are you more energetic in the early morning? Are you a night owl like me? This might influence the time you choose for
your writing experiment. Use your body
clock to advantage. Write with a little
"book light" on a tiny spiral if you have to, in the dark, while
watching the baby sleep. Whatever you
find that works for you is right.
If you are one of those people who does mission statements,
write one on the flyleaf of your writing journal/spiral/sketchbook. Talk about your writing time, how you deserve
to accomplish things, what you want in your work area, the types of stories you
hope to tell, or whatever you believe belongs in such a statement. List five short-term goals for your writing
career, i. e., immediate steps you can take towards creating the future you
envision for yourself as a writer.
Do it YOUR way, as Sinatra sang. "There are nine and sixty ways of
constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right," says
Kipling.
Use your time as ME time.
It is, after all, the only thing that is truly yours, and it is measured
out in teaspoons. "Time is the coin
of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it
will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you,"
advises the master poet Carl Sandburg.
Please, follow your own heart. If you want to write, it will be the best
guide you ever have.
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Denise Weeks’ mystery Nice Work, the first of the Jacquidon
“Snoop Sisters” Carroll series, recently published by Oak Tree Press, won the
Dark Oak Novel Contest. She also writes the Ariadne French Mysteries. Under her
pseudonym Shalanna Collins she has written a number of YA fantasy/urban fantasy
novels. Find her Amazon author pages at
http://www.amazon.com/author/deniseweeks and
http://www.amazon.com/author/shalannacollins. She contributes to several blogs
including her official blog.
