I am big on creating schedules where I block out each day, then itemize what I intend to accomplish during each of those time periods. These often turn out to be fake. Being easily led astray, I will follow a different thread & spoil careful calculation. The time writing being so precious & the demands of self-publishing so divergent, the hours required for exploratory research spins into days.
When I eventually descend into the pages of a work-in-progress, hours pull & stretch like fresh taffy. I ignore so much of the physical world in these sessions, then console myself with the fact that there is no other way. Self-justification becomes the shield, behind which I type & delete & fret.
The craft of writing has special needs & I remain committed, as fully as life's circumstances will permit, to satisfying those unique demands.
{Images by Olivia Jefferies}
I always read your posts at least a few times before commenting. I guess it's to try and soak it all in and understand as much as I can. The way you write is very rewarding because it's full of aha moments. The self-justification being the shield I really liked that part. As if it's the shield to protect ourselves from choosing not to write at times or take that extra step to dive into it. Self-justification is probably the most important thing to me because without it things feel so meaningless to me. Then you say behind the shield you are still fretting and deleting etc. That's so amazing how you wrote that. Basically one of your sentences can always be branched out so far. I sometimes wonder if you take ideas then try to compress the complexity of it and form some poetic like writing. I don't even know if you do that intentionally or not but it's amazing either way. I know what you mean about the self-publishing part. They feel like two completely different worlds that are vaguely bridged together. I think it's fair to say that most indie authors feel they are never doing enough to promote their work. Especially with twitter, it's so easy to see the hardcore promoters from the average amount of promotion that most indie authors do. I say kudos to anyone who can perfectly master that balance between writing and promotion. But I've learned to that promotion can actually be really addicting and let's face it, it's pretty fun for the most part. I guess the basic rule of thumb is that any exposure is a plus. I also like how in several of your blogs you make it seem like there is this personal demand for writing. I like that you do that, it's almost like you create an extreme importance of your writing to motivate yourself to write at times even when you don't feel like it. Because really in the end we are either writing or possibly thinking we should be writing anyways.
ReplyDeleteThank you once again, Joshua for your generous feedback. It really is amazing how kind and supportive you are in sharing your immediate response to the posts. It means a great deal to me and I find it highly encouraging.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the promotional aspects of self-publishing. Two worlds, indeed. Twitter is great for driving traffic and for spreading the word about new material and those mandatory KDP promotions. I completely agree - it is fun but also provides the opportunity to meet and share experience with fellow Indies.
As far as the blog posts go: they basically come out this way, in one rush. I write everything out in long hand before I transcribe it onto the computer. Kind of an old habit and I feel it slows me down enough to contain all that is brewing.
Oh! The battles I have had with different aspects in regards to making sure I sit down to actually get some work done each and every day. It has taken years to ensure the discipline and possibly more important, the emotional cavity that looms when I do not take the time to work on a daily basis. I imagine this is similar to an athlete or musician - that daily groove is critical to both sustain the ability and confidence to perform at a peak level.
Yeah I agree completely. - I always seem to do this I will starting writing about something and will say things like I am getting to a point only to skip over it completely. When I started talking about how twitter was so addicting and can be so much fun I meant to add that it can be like a vacuum at times for me. I get so addicted to it at times it's hard to pull away and get into a mode of writing again. You seem to have a good handle on that balance for sure. I'm going to have to break away from twitter for a couple of weeks to focus on writing but just wanted to add that since I forgot to say it. Yeah I hear you about that daily groove. And that's amazing how you write it really is a pleasure to read for sure. I would like to think of myself as your #1 fan haha I don't know but you are definitely my favorite writer. Have you ever thought about doing createspace to make a paperback version of Mirror Face? If you ever did I would definitely buy a copy would be nice to have a physical copy as well. I'm glad my posts encourage you I know the blog writing can be tough because people are usually reluctant to post comments. I know it feels like an empty sort of thing when you make so many posts and get no comments. It's like you know people read them but are not sure if it's getting good foodback, except for like twitter etc. I don't know if this will help or not but there is another google followers widget that you haven't added on here. I think it's more of a popular one and when people join it it goes straight to their blogspot homepage etc. If you're not sure what I'm talking about you could find it on my blog it's the one with the blue button or something. Just thought I'd let you know just incase you didn't know or something. Looking forward to the next post and I hope you have a great week.
DeleteThanks, Joshua for the tip. I am not very good at figuring out those hundreds of widgets but I will surely have a look. It sounds useful.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the writing.