Wise Words

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I came across this list about writing and writerliness. In this list are things that I have heard from many sources, pros and amatuers alike, but I still need to be reminded every now and again because I do not do as I should.





1. There’s no great mystery to being a writer. A writer applies the seat of her pants to the seat of her chair, and writes.

2. First drafts are not the time to be careful. First drafts are designed to let you glop it all out, get the voices out of your head, unleash whatever beast that’s hounding you to get the story down on paper. It’s meant to be messy. Roll in it! Get your hands dirty!

3. ...

The rest of the list is:

http://ladiesoftheclub.blogspot.com/2007/11/thirteen-random-birthday-thoughts-about.html

Comments

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

My personal demons are:
2. First drafts are supposed to be ugly and messy, let it be that way, it's ok.
3. Go put your butt in the writing chair and get to it!
4. The muse is a fickle creature who will give you amazing gifts of insight and brilliance on rare occasions and leave you flat most of the rest of the time. Do not wait for inspiration/the muse or nothing will get down on the page.
8. I call this my pointless wandering. Writing words that go nowhere an later have to be cut. So heartbreaking (but necessary) to lose any hard won words.
8a. Oh teh angst! Ok, I have it. The self doubts and frustrations about growth, or lack thereof.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Do you spend much time considering these demons and how to deal with them?

My personal demons crippled me for a while, so I let go and just wrote. Wrote for the pure love of it, posted in a lot of communities, got a lot of response, and just enjoyed it.

After that, I was ready to face my personal demons and discovered that I had, in fact, faced and conquered some of them in the act of letting go.

I feel stronger now--sometimes almost powerful--as I face my writing. It doesn't keep me from having days that aren't as good as others, but I think it's a magnificent step in the right direction and I always wish that others could feel the freedom I feel now.

Freedom is everything. Freedom is creativity..

I like the admonition to not be afraid. I think that's one we all need to listen to, don't you?

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to just bull through, especially the self doubt and frustration bit.
A while ago somebody blogged about first drafts and they said that first drafts are supposed to be messy and ugly. A light went on in my head, "Oh! They're Supposed to be like that!" That particular demon has been better since then.
The demon giving me the most trouble is the butt-in-chair. There is something sneaky and under the surface with that one and I haven't figured it out yet. I bet is has something to do with fear and something to do with the fact that I do not enjoy the revision/rewriting process (so if I never finish anything I don't have to revise and rewrite, right?). Silly brain.

[captlychee.livejournal.com]

As to this, I've never heard better than Jack Kerouac's 'first thought, best thought'. Of course, he was writing in a time when a new class of critics, armed with a novice's understanding of psychology, were unleashing themselves on literature and so he cuold get away with a lot as they all thought a new style was being created.

This later imbued the SF New Wave with credentials it didn't deserve. My favourite line of all this era is 'she screamed and she screamed as his love juice poured into her'. Wow! Science fiction, right? It had some kind of computer in it, I remember that. . .

But Kerouac's principle is a good one. 'You can always go back and futz with the beginning' as Larry Niven said.

Number 10 is easy. I have no emotional attachment to a story until it's read by someone else. If they like it, I get attached.

Are we allowed to spruik here? This one proved rather likeable:http://www.users.on.net/~hippy/Foxfoe.htm

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Spruik away. *laughs* Had to look that word up.

Wonderful List!!!!

[mythrana.livejournal.com]

This list is great. Thank you for posting it. It is so true. Getting the seat of your pants to the chair is the easy part, but the writing is the bane of every writer's life. I will have a million ideas running through my head until I actually put my fingers on the keyboard.

And for the life of me I cannot just write. I always try to get every detail the first time rather than just writing to be writing. Live Journal has been great for me in this department because I do not feel the same pressure that I do when I am writing on my book.

As for the muse??? Someone should take her out and shoot her. She is never where you need her when you need her. Sure she will show up when you are in the middle of a workday buried in work but when you have an entire weekend free to do some writing she decides to take a vacation to Alaska. Crazy muse!!