You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.
— Annie Proulx
One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
— Jack Kerouac
Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.
― Rainer Maria Rilke
Sometimes looking for quotes for my Sunday posts can be a little frustrating. I know they’re out there, but finding them is a different story. And it doesn’t help when my favorite quote site now triggers the Windows Defender and then all kinds of warnings start up and I have to reboot my computer. But I digress.
One of the most common pieces of advice given to writers is to write every day. We all know this. But I find myself lately questioning this advice.
Last year I started out doing what I called a three-minute word every day. I’d pick a word at random and write whatever came into my head, triggered by that word, for three minutes. And I did it every day.
This kind of segued into an online serial called the Cave, but I was still writing every day. I would take the week’s worth of three-minute words and combine them into an installment, which I’d then post on Fridays. This lasted until the story was finished, after which I fell back into my old, sporadic writing habits.
A couple of years ago I did something similar, only I was picking a random prompt and writing from it. It was great for filling up my writing journal, but most of them weren’t real stories, not even flash ones. Which kind of brings me to my point.
What good comes of writing every day when it serves no real purpose?
The cave story will probably never see the light of day. Each daily segment was written around a random word, which took the story in some very weird directions. The prompt stories are really just snippets of stories with no real point. Meanwhile, I’d do these things and pat myself on the back for writing every day, and my real writing would be totally ignored.
It got me thinking, do other writers do this? I have to tell you, I feel like I’m kinda wasting my time on this stuff. Stephen King advises us to write every day, but I’m pretty sure when he writes it’s on an actual story or novel. Did Nora Roberts become so prolific by wasting her time with meaningless prompts and exercises? I’m betting she didn’t.
Ernest Hemmingway is quoted as saying: “When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible.” But you notice that he specifies working on a book or a story. He doesn’t say anything about writing just for the sake of writing every day.
So is writing every day good advice, or bad advice?
While I don’t subscribe to the belief that you have to stick to a schedule where you write at the same time every day, I do think writing every day is a good idea, but it depends on what you write. If the writing serves no real purpose, what’s the point of it? Writing from a prompt or doing a writing exercise can get the creative juices flowing, but they’re only beneficial if they lead to other writing. – your book, a story, even something non-fiction.
So write every day, by all means. But write with purpose.
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WORDAGE REPORT
It wasn’t a super busy week last week, but it was a very grey and dismal one. A continuation of the grey and dismal we’ve had since a couple of days after Christmas when the temperature started to go up and the rain started to come down.
I’m one of those people who don’t do very well without the sun. Over the last 10 or 11 days we’ve had a total of maybe 8 hours of sun. As the week progressed, I could feel my energy ebbing and my depression rising. My thoughts were scattered every whichway. And next week doesn’t seem too promising either – we’re scheduled for a whopping 12 hours of sun spread over the seven days, with two of those days at 1 hour, and two at 0 hours.
So needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot done last week, especially writing. I started my poetry post days early, which is the only reason it got done. The serial post . . . I started it, ran out of steam, and never finished it. The good news is, there will be no problem finishing it for this week. And if we get some sun (which rumour has it we’re supposed to) I might even get an installment ahead.
NEW WORDS:
1958+431+269+0=2658
DOWN – 650 words from last week
Goals For Next Week:
Try to get my blog posts done earlier in the week.
EDITING:
0 pages
No editing. No thought of editing. No energy for it even if I had thought of it.
Goal For Next Week:
Start work on An Elemental Spirit.
MARKETING:
Not only did I not give my Amazon author’s page a passing thought, I didn’t get that promotion form finished, and I got a reminder from them. I have until the 15th to get it back to them or I have to wait another 6 months.
Goal For Next Week:
Get the book promotion form finished and sent in.
TECH & TRAINING:
No Dropbox, no external hard drive, no online classes. My brain was not functioning at a high enough capacity for any of that stuff. SAD sucks!
Goal For Next Week:
Start backing up files to Dropbox. Set up external hard drive. Check out online courses
POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Well, at least I did something right last week. I found a new form to share and started it a few days early, time I needed to get it done. But I made no inroads on my poemwork.
Goal For Next Week:
Share a new poetry form; work on my poemwork.
CRAFTING:
No crafting, but I’m just about finished the Great Craft Migration. While the weather was not conducive to getting anything creative done (things that required mental acuity), things that required physical energy were a tad easier.
I cleared most of the stuff from the large craft closet and moved it upstairs, and filled the former craft closet with stuff from the dining room so we could set up the cat tree. The cat tree was a genius idea – the kittens love it and have abandoned my lap for their tree, so I can’t use them as an excuse for not getting anything done any more.
Goal For Next Week:
Finish the craft migration and set up sewing table; work on the afghan.
WHAT I’M READING:
I finished Unnatural Creatures, a volume of stories selected by Neil Gaiman, and read Happenstance and Too Hot to Handle, by Tessa Bailey. I’ve just started Bad Girl Reputation, by Elle Kennedy and hopefully I can make it last more than a couple of days.
I also updated my Goodreads account with the three books I’ve read so far this year, and a goal of 50 in total. I have no idea how many I read last year, I believe I pledge to read 52, but stopped updating in May (at 29 books). I think it’s safe to say I surpassed my goal last year.
Goal For Next Week:
Continue making a little time to read every day.
GOAL REVIEW:
Well, I wasn’t just late with my serial installment last week, I missed it altogether. And sad to say I got no writing done, other that the remaining blog posts. The year is not off to an auspicious start.
I don’t know why it is, but I always start the new year with all these high expectations, but I started out late and then everything just seemed to go cattywampus.
I did start my new writing journal, but I didn’t like the new personal journal I ordered from Amazon, so I’m waiting for a new one from Chapters. I’m hoping to do a better job keeping up both of them this year.
I feel like 2022 is still hanging on. The Chinese Tiger just doesn’t want to let go. But on January 22 it will be the Year of the Rabbit. Perhaps it will be a kinder, gentler year for all
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