The distinction between effort and ugh is the most useful thing I've read about process in weeks. There's a version of discipline that says push through everything, and a version that says pay attention to what the resistance is actually telling you. Sounds like the memoir wasn't resisting — it was finished. You'd already done the thinking. The novel is where the questions still live. That's not abandonment. That's listening.
These all make the ones we work on all the better. It’s all writing! And why that phrase people so often use relentlessly “never give up” is all the more stupid. You can be a quitter so long as you’re learning!
Great quotes and insights into your writing journey with your signature humor, complete with a handwritten play from your early formative years! Thanks for sharing your "abandoned carcasses," which prompted me to think about my own story carcasses and reasons for abandoning them (or maybe considering resurrecting them)!
Writing is such hard work that unless you have a burning passion for the underlying concept, it's usually not going to work out (although it's hard to know whether you're just in the inevitable slog phase or it's just not a sustainable project).
However, I often it find it valuable to intentionally revisit unfinished ideas. Time away sometimes leads to new paths forward and renewed vigor. So put it on the shelf, but don't forget it.
Writing is such hard work that unless you have a burning passion for the underlying concept, it's usually not going to work out (although it's hard to know whether you're just in the inevitable slog phase or it's just not a sustainable project).
However, I often it find it valuable to intentionally revisit unfinished ideas. Time away sometimes leads to new paths forward and renewed vigor. So put it on the shelf, but don't forget it.
Your article was entertaining and resonated with me in a comical and also heartwarming way. Keep at it, lady! You are going to create something golden when it’s right for you. I have a plethora of “abandoned carcasses” in my writing room. 😂Haha. All good writers do.
tech billionaires and their wonderful ex-wives-- McKenzie (Jeff Bezos), Melinda (Gates) - YES!!
We'll see....!
"Process is progress." Every writer--every person!--should internalize this one.
I'm glad you reminded me that all my dead and buried novels aren't disasters. (Maybe they're fertilizer.)
I envy people with legible handwriting. 🤡
I've always been very proud of mine. :-D
The distinction between effort and ugh is the most useful thing I've read about process in weeks. There's a version of discipline that says push through everything, and a version that says pay attention to what the resistance is actually telling you. Sounds like the memoir wasn't resisting — it was finished. You'd already done the thinking. The novel is where the questions still live. That's not abandonment. That's listening.
“That’s not abandonment, that’s listening.” PERFECT!!
These all make the ones we work on all the better. It’s all writing! And why that phrase people so often use relentlessly “never give up” is all the more stupid. You can be a quitter so long as you’re learning!
Great quotes and insights into your writing journey with your signature humor, complete with a handwritten play from your early formative years! Thanks for sharing your "abandoned carcasses," which prompted me to think about my own story carcasses and reasons for abandoning them (or maybe considering resurrecting them)!
Writing is such hard work that unless you have a burning passion for the underlying concept, it's usually not going to work out (although it's hard to know whether you're just in the inevitable slog phase or it's just not a sustainable project).
However, I often it find it valuable to intentionally revisit unfinished ideas. Time away sometimes leads to new paths forward and renewed vigor. So put it on the shelf, but don't forget it.
Writing is such hard work that unless you have a burning passion for the underlying concept, it's usually not going to work out (although it's hard to know whether you're just in the inevitable slog phase or it's just not a sustainable project).
However, I often it find it valuable to intentionally revisit unfinished ideas. Time away sometimes leads to new paths forward and renewed vigor. So put it on the shelf, but don't forget it.
Oh, the squirrels. And bunnies (my plot bunnies).
I needed to read this today.
"We see a squirrel"
"Without embarrassment"
"Process is progress"
And I hear you re: no to the painful memoir...been there and had to give it up...then felt SO much better!
"We see a squirrel" :-)
damn squirrels.
Your article was entertaining and resonated with me in a comical and also heartwarming way. Keep at it, lady! You are going to create something golden when it’s right for you. I have a plethora of “abandoned carcasses” in my writing room. 😂Haha. All good writers do.