I’m only interested in your process.
I had a professor in college who used to say that. Freshman year he thought I was a genius and junior year he was disappointed to learn that I am, in fact, just a really nervous chick.
Here’s my process: I went to writing school, and then I didn’t write another good word for two years.
I mean, that’s not entirely accurate. Of course I wrote. I wrote half-scenes and bits of dialogue that never went anywhere, that died on the table even as I scribbled them down. I wrote birthday cards and shopping lists. I wrote my name in fifty different styles. But that was mostly it. I just…had nothing to talk about. I’ve never been one of those people who write like they’re training for a marathon, who crank out a certain number of pages or words every day regardless of whether they have anything to say. I can’t. Do it. I’ve tried. It makes me frustrated and upset and pissed off at the universe, to sit in front of the computer or in a Starbucks and stare at a blank page, white like milk, white like blindness. I write–have always written–because I love it, because when it’s going it’s better than being in love.
But when it’s not going, it’s ASS. And frankly, who needs more ass in her life? Not this girl, that’s for sure.
So I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to force it, that I was going to read and cook and knit scarves and make lists and wait for it–whatever IT is– to come. That’s where this blog was born, actually: a way to keep the words alive while I waited for whatever was next to reveal itself. And, finally, it did: last spring I was in the right place at the right time and I found fuel for eight, nine, ten short stories, letters and paragraphs and dialogue spilling over onto the page and the screen faster than I could get it all down. Over the summer Tom got used to coming home and finding me doing things like eating cereal and broccoli for dinner, notebooks and markers like rubble at my feet. I could feel my muscles getting longer and stronger, making connections I wouldn’t have made before. A Shred, if you will, for my brain: and one with results.
But now it’s getting colder, and as I polished up the last story I worked on a couple of weeks ago I could almost feel those very same muscles protesting, the thoughts coming more slowly, the words a bit sluggish. And couple of days later it occurred to me: I have no new writing in the pipeline.
My first reaction was panic–oh man, not this shit again. I hate this feeling, the fear and impotence, the creeping suspicion that I’m probably not a real writer after all. I banged around for awhile, slamming doors and crabbing out and staring, staring at that luminous white page. But as the leaves start to drop off the trees I’ve been starting to reconcile myself with the idea that I might have some waiting to do this season. And that’s okay. Because if I’ve learned one thing about my process this year, it’s that it will come. It will come.
Happy weekend, kiddos. I’m off to find some alternate creative outlets. See you Monday.
LisaF
October 23, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
Kim over at Kim’s Tour of No Regrets recommended your blog to me today. So, here I am, nursing along a Friday afternoon at work when I don’t want to be at work. I love the insight in this post, and may just stay here the rest of the afternoon. Hope you found an alternate creative outlet for the weekend.
kimtb
October 23, 2009 @ 9:12 pm
Katie, for some stupid reason I passed up free tickets to hear A.S. Byatt speak last night. But today a friend told me she said she ponders her books for two years before she writes them. And she also said that sleep is really, really important to the creative process. Just so you know.
There is something about blogging that does help with the discipline of writing. It’s helped me, for sure. It’s where I experiment with headlines, sentence structure and word combinations. And where I see if there is anything more to an idea (and most of the time, there isn’t). It’s where I try to convey a sentence in one word, and paragraph in one sentence. And it’s where I get used to writing every day, even (and especially) if there is nothing to write about.
Please don’t be hard on yourself. I don’t know you all that well, but I think you aren’t old enough to be that hard on yourself. You’re still at the beginning. And that’s a good thing.
Kim
Colleen
October 25, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Somehow I stumbled here and love this post:) It totally spoke to me. .. Thanks!
Ashley
October 26, 2009 @ 9:31 pm
I am a lot the same way. I’ve found that I can push myself into creativity, but my best stuff usually comes when I don’t push myself. Then again, I haven’t been writing very seriously since school, and when I have an idea, it comes fast and hard. Give yourself time. Life, I’m sure, will give you the stuff you need when you need it.
Susie
October 27, 2009 @ 3:32 am
Oh man. Yeah, I hear you. My writing? At a total standstill. Your post reminded me of this – http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/dissertation/single5 – which I have yet to heed.