Stephen King says in his book On Writing of the days when he was a high school English teacher and trying to write on the side, that by Friday afternoon he'd felt as if he'd spent the week with jumper cables clamped to his brain. "If I ever came close to despairing about my future as a writer, it was then. I could see myself thirty years on...with six or seven unfinished manuscripts (in my desk drawer) which I would take out and tinker with from time to time, usually when drunk. If asked what I did in my spare time, I'd tell people I was writing a book - what else does any self respecting creative writing teacher do with his or her spare time? And of course I'd lie to myself, telling myself there was still time, it wasn't too late, there were novelists who didn't get started until they were fifty, hell even sixty."
This is how I feel today.
http://www.charteroaktree.com/farmingtongraveyardtour.html
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Real life vs. Writing life
Snow day today - but yet I did not spend any time on my writing. I spent so much over February vacation that I am resting - although always it is like an addiction. As soon as I open that novel I am in and I am lost in novel land. I can say I will just take a peek - see if the edits are ringing true and the next thing I know I have been entrenched in the world of Alice, Kyle and Evelyn for eight hours. Obsession is an issue.
Also - as March looms - so do "real life" responsibilities. I will be teaching an MCAS course at night in March - and there are the research papers and the leaking sink, and the window installation to consider. I look at my calendar and I realize that except for my writing group meeting two weekends from now - and the subsequent tweak of the 1st 3 chapters - which will follow their critique - I will not be "in my novel" again until April vacation - and that is just one week before the Muse.
I have not dared to consider the POV situation since posting the question. I think my ladies might give me some feedback on that possible change however - and I dread the possibility of switching it all - which is how I might spend April. But then again - I want it to be the best it can be.
Real life vs. writing life - I envy those who have been able to make writing their day job - but alas that is rare. Even if I were to catch lightening in a bottle - I most likely wouldn't quit my day job. But love the escape of being "in my novel" and I eagerly await the input of the writing ladies and the hiatus of April - and most of all the scary, exciting challenge of The Muse.
Now begins the march through March - let's get it done
Also - as March looms - so do "real life" responsibilities. I will be teaching an MCAS course at night in March - and there are the research papers and the leaking sink, and the window installation to consider. I look at my calendar and I realize that except for my writing group meeting two weekends from now - and the subsequent tweak of the 1st 3 chapters - which will follow their critique - I will not be "in my novel" again until April vacation - and that is just one week before the Muse.
I have not dared to consider the POV situation since posting the question. I think my ladies might give me some feedback on that possible change however - and I dread the possibility of switching it all - which is how I might spend April. But then again - I want it to be the best it can be.
Real life vs. writing life - I envy those who have been able to make writing their day job - but alas that is rare. Even if I were to catch lightening in a bottle - I most likely wouldn't quit my day job. But love the escape of being "in my novel" and I eagerly await the input of the writing ladies and the hiatus of April - and most of all the scary, exciting challenge of The Muse.
Now begins the march through March - let's get it done
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