Thanks for the post. It’s always interesting to learn more about how another writer works.
If you plan to write in long spells you can’t wait for the perfect day when you wake up full of energy with a clear schedule and a buzzing mind — that happens too rarely if at all.
This reminds me of this Bukowski poem:
air and light and time and space
“–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the
way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create.”
no baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you’re on
welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown
away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.
baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.
I sit down to write whenever I feel there’s even a small chance I’ll get into the writing zone and I have at least one hour free.
Personally, if I wait for a chunk of one hour, I’ll have way more trouble finding the time. Whereas 20 minutes that way and 15 minutes this way can go a long way. Do you have trouble writing for short periods of time, or do you have enough long chunks of free time that there’s no use for small chunks?
I think I believed in writer’s block when I was younger. One day I decided that it’s fake and it hasn’t materialized since. You can always just transcribe your internal monologue as it goes on in your head. Yes, it’s probably going to be bad, but now you’re dealing with the task of editing rather than with “writer’s block”.
My own solution for writer’s block is to remind myself that first drafts are allowed to be shitty. That usually does the trick.
Do you have trouble writing for short periods of time, or do you have enough long chunks of free time that there’s no use for small chunks?
If my life was so busy that I couldn’t even find 4-5 hourlong chunks throughout the week I probably wouldn’t blog at all. I sometimes write in 15-20 minute bits while in the office (remember those?) but almost every single post took a multi-hour chunk to come together.
Thanks for the post. It’s always interesting to learn more about how another writer works.
This reminds me of this Bukowski poem:
Personally, if I wait for a chunk of one hour, I’ll have way more trouble finding the time. Whereas 20 minutes that way and 15 minutes this way can go a long way. Do you have trouble writing for short periods of time, or do you have enough long chunks of free time that there’s no use for small chunks?
My own solution for writer’s block is to remind myself that first drafts are allowed to be shitty. That usually does the trick.
If my life was so busy that I couldn’t even find 4-5 hourlong chunks throughout the week I probably wouldn’t blog at all. I sometimes write in 15-20 minute bits while in the office (remember those?) but almost every single post took a multi-hour chunk to come together.