Generic Writing Whine

[sythyry]

Still haven't gotten to write any more of Wrath of Trees.   I don't seem to have much usable free time this month.  After Rhys' bedtime doesn't seem to be very usable; I'm usually pretty fried, and caffeine at that hour is not a very good idea for me anymore.  I've been trying to write in lunchtimes at work, but  I don't have enough time to finish a section, and  the stuff I've written at lunchtimes has generally been crap. 

*whine*

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

I'm in a similar boat. I want to get some writing done, but I don't seem to be able to find time or energy to get it done. Forcing it just creates lousy prose, so that's pointless.

Why is writing so much work?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

It's not that much work for me. It's just hard to arrange. I need to be reasonably well-rested and awake and energetic, which excludes most eveningtimes. The first half-hour seems to be mostly spent catching up, unless I was writing the same thing the day before, and as of now I'm not even getting to write the week before.

[wave-cannon.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I squeeze something out.
But, on the other hand, I do that with the full knowledge that I intend to go back and edit the literary glop later.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

I made arrangements to cut my hours at work, so I get my Fridays off. Technically, 32 hours counts as a full work-week so I don't lose benefits.
However, I don't have a mortgage and a child to care for, either. I don't know what options are available to you.

But yes, writing burnout happens when you don't get a nice healthy period of unbroken quiet time. The only cure I know is a nice healthy period of unbroken quiet time, possibly done with vacation days, which I don't know if you have with your convention, parenting and festival schedules.

I am an advocate that the standard 40 hour work-week is detrimental to creative types. Artists need balance and without it, it bleeds into other aspects of their lives - which I hope isn't happening too much in yours.

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

I don't have any good advice, but I can relate muchly.

The other thing is that I think writing helps to keep me sane/r, so it really sucks when I'm in this position. I don't know if you feel that way as well or not.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to run off and build a Generic Creative Whine Generator form, because yours isn't truly generic.

I suggest sticking with the lunchtime sessions, maybe with a bit of warmup by committing yourself to writing anything even the knowledge that it'll be junk. I and probably a lot of other people would love to see random bits of slice-of-life World Tree material using random characters, for instance. You can even call it non-canon so you don't have to worry about the continuity. Another option is to scribble something, anything, about what you remember any of the characters doing or thinking in that point of the story. At worst it will get the ink flowing and remind you of where you were, at best it'll become actual story text or deepen the character development of someone you thought of as a minor character.

Now, if I can pick up this pen in front of me and finish this stupid scene...

[allessindra.livejournal.com]

I like kris_schnee's idea; a writer friend of mine called it 'writing practice'. He'd take however much time he had and just write... anything. A glowing intense description of hte sunlight on te coffeemug in front of him. A five-minute-moment of riding his bike as a child, pulling the memories up and all teh senses. If it did nothing else, he said it helped him not lose the sense of writing as an active art, and he sometimes got bits of lovely desription he coudl work into other things.

Nice looking site! Brenda!!!

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