This resonates deeply. I have so many draft posts that are just a title that I think I will return to but on return I find the moment has passed and trying to write becomes forced. I’m beginning to realize that the moment is now. Stopping everything I’m doing to at least get a rough draft down on paper or in my notes app. Easier said than done as a new mother, and that’s ok. Sometimes you really do have to let things go.
I agree that showing up regularly is important. For that I find Julia Cameron’s (Artist’s Way) morning pages very helpful, because they form the routine that brings you back to the page again and again. Natalie Goldberg, in “Writing Down the Bones” also recommends a daily writing practice, and just like Cameron, she recommends to “just write”, without worrying about what comes out of your pen and editing yourself. Your daily writing practice becomes the place where your ideas can come and find you.
I have so many pieces of paper with amazing ideas on them (at least I knew they were amazing at the time) but going back later often leaves me tilting my head and wondering, what the heck was this about?
…the best use of creativity is itself…if you feel like a shoe tell me…this thing meant that…cool…the only quit is quit…as soon as we lose interest in ourself good luck to ourself…when the muse isn’t present tell us who is…there is no moment of any human’s life that isn’t worth thoughtful visit…
I work in almost the opposite direction. I think of a scene or a juxtaposition of scenes, and usually the title comes last. My problem is not a dearth of ideas or even stale ones so much as a lack of linear time to develop them the way I'd like. For now, I still need the weekly deadline here -- it gives my practice some structure and purpose. The harder thing for me is to lean into more invisible work, such as the long arc of writing a book. That's where a writing community -- even if it's just one or two trusted friends -- can be crucial. Otherwise it's like Sharon Olds's metaphor for sex without love -- like great distance runners racing against their own personal bests.
This resonates deeply. I have so many draft posts that are just a title that I think I will return to but on return I find the moment has passed and trying to write becomes forced. I’m beginning to realize that the moment is now. Stopping everything I’m doing to at least get a rough draft down on paper or in my notes app. Easier said than done as a new mother, and that’s ok. Sometimes you really do have to let things go.
I agree that showing up regularly is important. For that I find Julia Cameron’s (Artist’s Way) morning pages very helpful, because they form the routine that brings you back to the page again and again. Natalie Goldberg, in “Writing Down the Bones” also recommends a daily writing practice, and just like Cameron, she recommends to “just write”, without worrying about what comes out of your pen and editing yourself. Your daily writing practice becomes the place where your ideas can come and find you.
I have so many pieces of paper with amazing ideas on them (at least I knew they were amazing at the time) but going back later often leaves me tilting my head and wondering, what the heck was this about?
…the best use of creativity is itself…if you feel like a shoe tell me…this thing meant that…cool…the only quit is quit…as soon as we lose interest in ourself good luck to ourself…when the muse isn’t present tell us who is…there is no moment of any human’s life that isn’t worth thoughtful visit…
I work in almost the opposite direction. I think of a scene or a juxtaposition of scenes, and usually the title comes last. My problem is not a dearth of ideas or even stale ones so much as a lack of linear time to develop them the way I'd like. For now, I still need the weekly deadline here -- it gives my practice some structure and purpose. The harder thing for me is to lean into more invisible work, such as the long arc of writing a book. That's where a writing community -- even if it's just one or two trusted friends -- can be crucial. Otherwise it's like Sharon Olds's metaphor for sex without love -- like great distance runners racing against their own personal bests.