Michelle Barker's Blog: Hearing Voices - Posts Tagged "revision"
Momentum
A friend of mine posted a photo on Facebook this morning with the caption: "If you spend too much time thinking of a thing, you'll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal." Now, the photo itself was of Bruce Lee and it wasn't exactly stellar, but the quote has been on my mind all day.
There is something to be said for momentum when it comes to writing, especially if you're tracking that mammoth creature, the novel. In his book, On Writing Stephen King has admitted that he doesn't take days off - not Sundays, not even Christmas. I'm beginning to understand why. Spending at least a half hour every day working on your project is almost like raising your novel's metabolism. Even when you do other things for the rest of your day, it's still there - however you want to think about it: simmering on the backburner, burning calories, producing new ideas.
Take a week off in the middle of a draft and you imagine you'd come back fresh. No, more like confused. What was I planning to do with that plotline again? And where did this character come from, I don't remember him.
After a complete draft: by all means, take a break. In fact, it's the best thing you can do. And not just one week; more like six. There's no other way you'll be willing to murder those darling sentences of yours unless you detach yourself from them as thoroughly as possible. But in the middle? Perish the thought. One definite move every day, a commitment of half an hour, 350 words, whatever you can handle. But every day, until it's done.
You can thank Bruce Lee.
There is something to be said for momentum when it comes to writing, especially if you're tracking that mammoth creature, the novel. In his book, On Writing Stephen King has admitted that he doesn't take days off - not Sundays, not even Christmas. I'm beginning to understand why. Spending at least a half hour every day working on your project is almost like raising your novel's metabolism. Even when you do other things for the rest of your day, it's still there - however you want to think about it: simmering on the backburner, burning calories, producing new ideas.
Take a week off in the middle of a draft and you imagine you'd come back fresh. No, more like confused. What was I planning to do with that plotline again? And where did this character come from, I don't remember him.
After a complete draft: by all means, take a break. In fact, it's the best thing you can do. And not just one week; more like six. There's no other way you'll be willing to murder those darling sentences of yours unless you detach yourself from them as thoroughly as possible. But in the middle? Perish the thought. One definite move every day, a commitment of half an hour, 350 words, whatever you can handle. But every day, until it's done.
You can thank Bruce Lee.
Hearing Voices
If you were to admit this anywhere else, it might get you locked up, but writers hear voices all the time - and if they can transcribe what they hear effectively enough, their readers can hear them to
...more
- Michelle Barker's profile
- 61 followers
