Lets get back to fiction writing, that's where this discussion/digression began. Fiction writing needs more discipline than I've built, I've come to realize. I was never quite there, but there's been times where it has been in the reach... back when I was in Boston, and I can still get into bouts of discipline here and there. Unfortunately for me, good fiction doesn't come four totally-unrelated half-assed pieces at a time, it's all connected, it's a web and it wants to be told as soon as possible, it won't wait for me if I want to chill and toke up over the weekend instead. The imps of writing don't care if I played poker with friends last night and cannot channel their stories through me because I'm too tired and sleepy....they'll find a different medium to express themselves.
Fiction is like a plant: it needs to be taken care of, watered, given sunlight and nutrients, and raised well or else it dies. Even then, even when it fruits, it's not a guarantee that the fruits are good or even edible. To get there one needs to be a farmer adept with the art of raising plants: to know what a plant needs at the right time and give it constant attention. Regular pruning is important too, and so is getting rid of diseases that might infect it, once a while. It's not like a computer program that you can leave running nonstop in the background and it just works. You cannot shut it down and start it ten years later and expect it'll start right where you left it, like a video game. A story is organic like a plant, and needs organic love.
An uncared story is a pitiable orphan of a creative output -- unloved, homeless and pointless. No offense to the parentless. A story well-cared for won't make it to the greatest literary heights, but it feels happy, it nourishes its caretaker. A satisfied nourished writer is the writer who loves his creations like a farmer loves her plants.
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