Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Just Show Up

Last night in writing class at the Loft, I passed on this amazing bit of wisdom to make writing easier:

"Just show up."

The idea being that if you make a special time for writing (Stephen King in his book On Writing suggests that it be a consistant time, say: every night at 7:00 pm, for instance) writing becomes easier. King says that showing up at the same time and place helps your Muse "know where to find you." As silly as that might sound, I think he's got a point. If you know that the time you've set aside for writing is FOR WRITING and you get in the habit of doing it, it becomes easier and easier to get words down on paper/screen.

The big problem with this advice is that, lately, I can't seem to take it.

Oh, I show up, all right. I've got my laptop out, coffee in hand, and... then I surf the internet for an hour and a half. Plus, I don't know if it's something astrological or what, but I can't seem to get anything of substance done. Last few days have been a whole series of stupid, annoying events that have kept me from concentrating on anything, much less writing.

I'm also beginning to think that I'm going to have to start writing at home, away from an easy wireless connection. (The neighbors actually have wireless that I can often hop on to, but to get it, I have to sit in a particular room.)

I'm actually quite excited about the new novel (DEAD IF I DO) because... well, I don't want to spoil anything, but Teresa, Sebasitan's not-quite-dead wife/betrothed shows up. Hillarity ensues. And I love writing the funny, which is why this block is particularly frustrating.

*sigh*

What? I should go write? What, now?

Yeah....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, this is off the subject, but it popped into my head...Ever thought about making the Garnet books into a movie(s)?

I'm still trying to picture Sebastian in my head. ...for some reason, Christian Bale with a ponytail comes to mind. ...And I don't know why, but Winona Ryder comes to mind for Garnet. Maybe because of that pixie cut she has. And she sported the long blonde hair in 'Edward Scissorhands', so she could pull that look off too.

tate hallaway said...

I'd love to make my books into movies.

As for Sebastian...? Ever seen Neil Gaiman? In his younger days, he's close. But as for superstars... well, I have a screensaver of Antonio Bandaras I use for inspiration. However, he doesn't precisely match my description.