Wild Animals vs. Butt in Chair

[alanajoli]

(My apologies to the person from whom I stole this link. I can't find your entry to link back. If you comment here, I'll be happy to link back to you!)

Someone on lj posted this link to Jonathan Carroll's blog entry about writing, comparing Writing (roughly the way other people talk about Muses) to a wild creature that will panic if you force it to stay indoors. He writes about allowing writing to go the way it wants, about being inspired and not working when you're not. I really like the points he makes.

But.

The problem with me and writing isn't that I'm blocked. It's that I feel obligated to do other things first. I have copyediting assignments or articles to write. I'm sorry, my muse-y friend, but I don't have time for coffee with you today. I'm too busy.

This is the beauty, for me, of the Butt in Chair technique. Introduced to me by jenlyn_b, the BIC technique is basically where I invite Writing over for a long stretch of catching up. It's where I set aside hours of time just to hang out with this friend I've been neglecting. BIC isn't about cracking the whip on Writing--it's about cracking the whip on my scheduling, making sure I actually spend time doing what's important to me, that creative work I so often neglect.

And now that I've started thinking about Writing as a poor neglected friend, I feel I really ought to call her up and see if she can do a lunch date tomorrow.

Comments

[holmes-iv.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I have the feeling that in the confrontation you seem to be proposing in your post title, the wild animals are at a substantial advantage... I suppose it depends which animals you pick, though. ;-)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Wild bunnies? I could fend them off from my desk. ;)

[lyster.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain on the priorities issue. Right now I'm finishing redrafts on one novel and just got another back from the printer, but I really want to be attacking my new project. Madness! I keep wanting to work in earnest on the new book, but my editing stares me in the face and says, if you put me down now before you're finished you'll never pick me up again.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling a little full of fail today. Spent a lot of time reading livejournal, because I like blogging and keeping up with blogs, but it sure can eat a large chunk of your day! I also finally got around to finishing a set of review books I should have had done a long time ago. I guess if I write up that review and do some copyediting in the next hour or so, I'll feel pretty good about life... but right now? I've accomplished nothing. Certainly not fiction writing!

*le sigh*

[lyster.livejournal.com]

Alas! Being full of fail is a difficult feeling. Last year during Spring Festival I was working on Raise My Head and Watch the Moon, which is two books back now, and there were days where despite having nothing else to do I could barely work through a thousand words, partly due to chatting with people back in the states. Maybe there's an advantage though - stuff that fires you up and gets you thinking almost always feeds back into fiction, right? At any rate, I hope you finished the day more in line with your original expectations!