Years ago I attended a day long writing workshop I vaguely remember the title to be something like, “Getting Published,” or some such thing. I only remember one thing from that day, “Writers write.”
That was something the workshop leader said during the day. I vaguely recall a conversation about writer’s block and one about how to write a query letter.
“Writers write,” still comes to my mind whenever I think of writing. For all the advice out there on writing, the best is still – just sit down and write. Often times, the block I have as a writer is simply connecting my butt to the chair and my fingers to the keyboard.
They are connected today. I’ve made some progress, finished edits on my poetry book, spent some time on my novel, and now before the pizza goes in the oven I am writing this post. Nothing special or exciting is happening in my writing world, just fingers on keys and words forming on the screen. This is that place were I just need to spend time ,effort and get something done. I have no expectation other than progress.
Sometimes writing is like that. Nothing world shaking happens. No great insights are found – just another 500 words from my brain to the page.
Sometimes that is enough.
Sure, it would be nice if I could report that I’ve made some major break through, but I can’t. I can say that I am moving my writing mind more and more into my novel work. This novel is something that I started many years ago, maybe twelve years, and then put aside as I couldn’t make the pieces fit. Maybe eight years ago I tried to figure a way around the blocks I was having – the places where the narrative in my mind made no sense on the page. The full expanse of my world refused to sit in the single time line of the protagonist.
I don’t remember exactly when, but one day the phrase, “fracture the crystal,” came into my head. Some of you might remember Jim Henson’s movie, “The Dark Crystal,” with the innocent Gelflings, the enigmatic Mystics and the evil Skeksis. The Gelflings had to heal the crystal and thereby save the world, but before that could happen, Henson had to fracture the crystal and let chaos reign.
So I’ve shifted how I am going to tell my story. There will be no strict chronological timeline with events moving nicely from place to place. That’s not the story in my head. My story is messy, incomplete, and full of inconsistencies.
This writer is writing and I’ve written the ending.
Now it is simply a matter of writing the beginning.
Till next week,
Andrew
Andrew's View of the Week 