When I first started posting every first and third Sunday, I meant to post every other week. But September is a jerk that has three Sundays, so here's a brief extra one.
Recently I was feeling stuck writing my novel. My ideas for how to move the story forward felt trite. I plot as I go along, so all I was asking from myself was an extremely rough outline. So I made one.
I was annoyed at my trite ideas, so I told them off as I wrote them down. This journey sucks, I said. This boring straight highway happens, then I'll swerve left at Tritesville and finally we'll wind up here in Idiotsberg.
As I did this, I was letting my imagination flow. "Zen and gusto," Ray Bradbury used to say. I was being emotional about my writing, and next thing I knew things didn't look trite at all.
You see, I was bored with my work. There's a saying that if you're bored with your own story you can bet the reader will be, too. But after letting my ideas spill out, I wasn't bored. I got excited and wound up with an extremely rough outline that I'm happy with--even proud of.
In retrospect, it was actually quite telling that I was angry. "Zen and gusto." That means being emotional about your work. I believe my story deserves to be great, so when it seemed inadequate, I was angry. I'm sure I'll get angry again and again as I move forwards, and I'll try to remember to savour that feeling, because all it means is I'm trying my hardest. I'm in love with my story and I hate the thought of it stinking.
It's a simple trick--just writing the ideas regardless of any doubts. It's letting go, savouring love and hate and finding the floodgates they represent.
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