Put the Fun Back in Writing
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Yep. That’s what I need to do.
I have a lot of fun imagining the story ideas in my head. The Ah Ha! moment when I think of some neat little piece of plot or a particularly cool character. But when it comes time to transfering those ideas from the wilderness of my mind to the orderly lines of text on my computer, the fun goes out of it.
When I was in junior and senior high school I wrote constantly. Every spare minute I had at school and several of the extra minutes I had at home. I had fun with it. I didn’t care that my words were awkward or juvenile or not quite right. I wrote. I was not self conscious of my own language then.
Now, every word is a struggle with myself. That inner editor screams in my head arguing with every word choice. I keep trying to scream back “This is just a first draft. Shut up!” but I am still nearly paralyzed by the shouting contest.
What is funny is that I actually have fun with revision and rewrite. I try to dangle that in front of me as a reward for finishing the draft. After all I can’t very well revise what isn’t written.
I have started turning on the TV while writing which helps a little bit. The distraction helps occupy part of my brain and muffles the voice of that editor in my head. I wish I could gag her and shove her in a closet and hide the key until I need to let her out.
On the other hand, blogging so far has been fun and I’ve been enjoying developing the habit of writing here every other day.
