Just a reminder

[alanajoli]

Thinking about writing isn't writing.

Talking about writing isn't writing.

Blogging about writing isn't even writing.

Doing research to prepare for writing still isn't writing.

Writing is writing.

This is something I needed to be reminded today. If writing is a priority, then you have to write. There's nothing else to it.

--

Note: I did a friend list purge today. If you feel you have been removed in error, please let me know! I got a little zealous toward the end. Also, hello new people! It was fun to see people adding me during the month that I wasn't blogging at all. Something about the stars aligning, I think.

Comments

[elven-wolf.livejournal.com]

Yay I'm still here!

And I'm totally there with you on the 'writing about writing is not writing'. It can get me through times of not writing due to work stress or time and whatnot, but it can only go so far.

Surprisingly, doing NaNo this year, for the first time ever, has helped me recapture that initial joy of writing.

[pmoc.livejournal.com]

I've written the first sentence to at least ten different stories. They are all excellent. By the time I am old and crinkly, I may even get the second sentences done.

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

All of that is true, of course, and one reason I don't write as often on Contra as I used to is that I am writing other (sometimes slow and difficult) things. But the point I want to make is that all of those things are also necessary. Writing requires thinking--and sometimes, as with the sorts of things I write, higher math. Talking about writing can sometimes help you get to the heart of difficult problems. Describing a problem to someone else, even if there isn't any "someone else" listening at the time, often flushes a solution out of the bushes and into the open, for refinement if not immediate implementation.

It would have been difficult to write as much as I did in high school and college if I didn't have loyal friends who read my nonsense, challenged me, told me what parts were good, and when it was all over, demanded that I do more. Writing is a balance between solitary vice and social virtue. Striking that balance is the great challenge of being an effective writer.

Finally, thanks for keeping me on as a friend. I will do my best to keep you on the path without getting in the way.

[bccreations.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo, I survived!

[publius513.livejournal.com]

I hear ya. I've been thinking about writing for 2 weeks now. Still haven't actually started. Talked about it, thought about it, planned on it...

*sigh*