Blah. Just nothing is coming. Not from any lack of projects–I’m working on the bonus / reward story for the folks who preorder Beltrunner II: Aftermath (see elsewhere on this website for ordering information), I have a work-in-progress that I have been pecking at for literally years (and which my very good friend and astoundingly brilliant man, Glenn Vogel, has given me some sage advice regarding), and I have the beginnings of Beltrunner III: Legacy written out.
No, I have a lot of irons in the fire as the saying goes. I just don’t feel like working any of them.
I’ve given this advice to others, so I suppose I should take it myself: when it comes to art, one cannot wait for inspiration. That wait might be a long, long time. No, as much as one is able, one must just plug ahead, writing or painting or composing or whatever, despite the lack of inspiration. Just keep working. It’s not so much “leap and a net will appear” as much as it is the idea of discipline and habits of mind, I think. I don’t really know the psychology, but I know it works for me.
But damn is it difficult sometimes.
Like now.
What makes it worse is that my time these days is a pretty precious commodity. I have no one else but myself to blame, since I seem to be the living embodiment of the antithesis of Thoreau’s “Simplify, simplify, simplify!” command. Nonetheless, I know that not every day grants me the hours I need to write, so when I get a day with those hours, I should use them well.
It would be very easy to write about how the Puritan Work Ethic is the backbone of American exceptionalism and make some reference to noses and grindstones, but the simple truth is I, like so many others, need some kind of push to work. That’s one of the great things about NaNoWriMo, I guess–it’s a motivator. Never mind that it’s artificial and self-imposed. It’s still a motivator.
Well, I know I will kick myself later if I don’t work now (kick myself mentally–I have long since lost the suppleness of limb to accomplish self-kicking) so I suppose I’ll close this short, pointless blog entry and see what trouble young Collier and even younger Sancho can get themselves into.
Be seeing you!
No, I have a lot of irons in the fire as the saying goes. I just don’t feel like working any of them.
I’ve given this advice to others, so I suppose I should take it myself: when it comes to art, one cannot wait for inspiration. That wait might be a long, long time. No, as much as one is able, one must just plug ahead, writing or painting or composing or whatever, despite the lack of inspiration. Just keep working. It’s not so much “leap and a net will appear” as much as it is the idea of discipline and habits of mind, I think. I don’t really know the psychology, but I know it works for me.
But damn is it difficult sometimes.
Like now.
What makes it worse is that my time these days is a pretty precious commodity. I have no one else but myself to blame, since I seem to be the living embodiment of the antithesis of Thoreau’s “Simplify, simplify, simplify!” command. Nonetheless, I know that not every day grants me the hours I need to write, so when I get a day with those hours, I should use them well.
It would be very easy to write about how the Puritan Work Ethic is the backbone of American exceptionalism and make some reference to noses and grindstones, but the simple truth is I, like so many others, need some kind of push to work. That’s one of the great things about NaNoWriMo, I guess–it’s a motivator. Never mind that it’s artificial and self-imposed. It’s still a motivator.
Well, I know I will kick myself later if I don’t work now (kick myself mentally–I have long since lost the suppleness of limb to accomplish self-kicking) so I suppose I’ll close this short, pointless blog entry and see what trouble young Collier and even younger Sancho can get themselves into.
Be seeing you!
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