I almost hesitate to mention this because if you have been a follower of this blog for very long you will note that I can spin wild tales of me actually writing something…at least something more than a blog about writing. But now I am not only going to mention it I already have some momentum built up and, it appears to me, fuel to keep the train going.
In past attempts to write my first story (I REALLY hesitate to call what I am doing a novel) I got seven pages done and had no idea where to take it from there. I slogged around and jotted down an idea or two here or there and I even have attempted to motivate myself by telling you all that I WAS GOING TO WRITE! Nothing really worked. In fact, I almost talked myself out of writing because if I wasn’t going to work at it diligently, why do it all. I just could not let go though!
I have prayed about writing, at least a little, but nothing seemed to happen then I learned a definition of discipline that hit me square in the forehead (I noted it in a previous blog…there it is…just scroll down a little farther…There you go!) That has helped tremendously and I was amazed (dismayed??) that the book of Proverbs is plumb full of verses about the lazy man, the sluggard, the slothful man. If you use Chuck Swindoll’s method of personalizing scripture you get the following:
“The slothful Greg”, “The lazy Greg”, “The sluggard Greg”…Do you start to see a pattern? Me too and I did not like it. I think I’ve known it for a long time but was too proud or too ignorant (Mom always used to tell me not to say “Stupid”…Thanks, Mom!) but the Lord finally, in His eternally gracious and merciful way, helped me to face the truth. If I was ever going to accomplish anything I needed to work at it. An amazing revelation!
And then there were the two books on writing. I won’t say they changed my life because I’ve already waxed too melodramatic already but they were insightful and full of good, concise writing advice. One was Stephen King’s “On Writing” ( I do not recommend this book because Mr.. King tends to allow vulgar language into the mix rather liberally…Be ye warned!) which came across to me as real, down to earth and actually showed some real examples. I stumbled over the language but the advice was sound.
The other book is by a guy named Chris Batey. Mr. Batey started a writing…challenge about ten years ago called NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month (or at least something very close to that.) His challenge is to start writing every day beginning Nov.1 and ending Nov. 30 an in that time frame write a 50,000 word novel! If you faithfully write every day in November this number equates to 1,667 per day that you need to write. Not really too hard actually until you realize you kinda need to have some sort of coherent story on the other side. It is a challenge I intend to take up this coming turkey month.
Anyway, from these two books I learned to start small, work every day, and shut off my internal editor. That pesky voice that hovers over my shoulder and tells me every mistake I make such as spelling, grammar, and spelling again; and likes to critic every sentence (If he even finds something he would consider a sentence!) and generally telling what a horrible example I’m setting for the writing world.
For those of you who are now completely lost or a at least felling a little dizzy, I have 1) Found a supply of discipline and am employing it to best of my abilities; 2) Writing 1000 words (sometimes more!) per day; and 3) I have evicted, temporarily because he will be needed to for the editing process, that blasted internal editor. (When you do this you really don’t care what you have written because you know you will go back at some point and edit. (It sounds like a long and tedious process to me too!)
Employing this set of tools for the last week and a half, I now have over 14, 000 words written which is roughly 15 pages. This count is five partial scenes out of over seventeen plus as I am writing I am finding all sorts of holes that will need to be filled and there have even been some surprise new characters that I never even knew existed before I started writing! It is so exciting! Each word I lay down is a new adventure and I hate the fact I have to break into my day for things like work when I have this adventure waiting for me at home! I have never been so exited about writing as I am now! Is it hard? Yes it is mentally taxing but I find a pleasure in it as maybe a runner feels when he or she gets that runner’s high. Dare I say I feel God’s pleasure when I am writing? I think I can! Do I think this is bragging? NO WAY! I think I am doing what God has designed me to do! And now that He has been helping me begin to overcome the things that I let hinder me I feel free! Free!
There are times where the muse seems to slog along but it’s those times that discipline comes along and pushes me to the finish line! “Only 100 words?”; “Only 400 words?”; “Only ten more words to go!” “Only 990 words?” Other times its like I hit 1400 words and wonder where the time went! It’s great!
Whew! I see I’ve done it again! But that’s what happens when I let my mind go and my fingers fly!
Good bye for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment