Little progress has been made on my goal of writing a novel before a certain age, and I'm getting a little concerned about whether that will ever happen. The willpower might be seeping away.
I'm looking for compromises at this point.
The other night I was thinking, maybe I could write a collection of semi-humorous essays, something about cute girls in my life, and my relationships with the various women I've been friends and otherwise with. But then I woke up and there really wasn't much substance in there to fill fifty-thousand words. There'd be a lot of exaggeration and vamping, no real substance to fill out the pages.
But write I will have to. There's no other way.
If nothing else, my thru-hiking journey could create some real substance for some sort of extended piece of writing.
The problem is this: to write you will need to have experienced life and be able to reflect it in the pages with your words, to have experienced things you will have to lived a long and varied life. To do that you should be at least a little bit outgoing, open to exciting new experiences, be open to talking and interacting with new people, unafraid of going on adventures and trying out new things.
It's not clear where I lie on that spectrum. I'm a little bit outgoing and extroverted, but far too resistant to change, and averse to risk of any kind. Without an openness, you can't open your heart, you can't spill out the ink into the page.
To become a writer is not to find a way to pump out words, it's to become a different person, a better human being who can connect with others better. And that's a journey that is difficult to skip through. Some people are talented at birth, or they've honed various skills necessary for the craft at an early age. I'm not gifted in this regard, and never came around to honing my writing-related skills. I'm doing it the hard way.
And oh how hard it is. A teacher, a guide of some sort can make this journey easier, quicker. Somebody to point out the right direction, and discourage your from taking easy hacks to success or breaking your form.
I'll figure things out eventually, it's going to be a rough journey. If only I could get that essay collection out soon.
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