I think there's a stereo type that all writers are books worms. I'm sure that a lot of writers love to read. I've met a bunch of writers who spend hours & hours in a book, but I'm not that way. I developed a passion for writing long before I started reading regularly. I don't even think that I can say that I've ever been a regular reader. I've enjoyed writing, and I enjoy studying literature and rhetoric, but I am not, and have never been, a book worm. I like to study and I like to do research, but when it comes to going to a book store and finding a story and reading it, I'm an alien. I like to COLLECT books, but I don't really read them. I have an interesting taste in literature and film. Normally best sellers don't interest me. I like the books that have been forgotten that are stuck in the back with rather dismal sales. So taste is one reason why I don't read much, but lack of patience is another. I've never really been a patient person. That's probably why the book has to be extremely interesting for me to read it. It has to catch my interest and attention straight off, or I'll throw it in a pile and never look at it again. I have a bunch of friends who will buy like five books and read them all in a week. I've done that before, but only because I was interested in the series. I rarely have phases where I read a lot. I never look for something to read. I either read to work out of a writer's block (which a method I rarely resort to), to study another writer's style, or I just stumble across a book I just happen to find interesting. What's worse is, I don't enjoy television shows as a viewer. I enjoy them as a writer. There's this television show that I've been watching, & I thoroughly enjoyed it at first. As most TV shows run their course, though, the story line gets tighter and tighter. I think people don't understand that television is just another form of writing. There are a panel of writers behind everything that happens in these episodes. So, on this forum I'm a member of, based on said television show, the members are getting really frustrated with the characters. "PERSON, Y U DO THIS? U NO MAKE SENSE!" Where as, I see it as, "Oh, what terrible writing." It's all just writing to me, and it's turning into terrible writing. I decided that I might not be able to handle the atrocious writing on the TV show anymore. (I'm secretly hoping that the writers are all gonna get fired and replaced, haha.) So, I considered reading the book that the television show is based off of. Well, of course, I know what the books are about, but that really isn't the only factor. A story can be interesting, yeah, but if the writer has a terrible writing style? No - I can't do it. I don't care if you're giving me the manual to save the f*ing world. If your style sucks, I can't handle it. Just no. I can't and I won't. When it comes to stories of any kind, TV, movie, books, games, I'm extremely analytical when it comes to the writing. What happens to who, who happens to what. But what gets me the most about TV shows is how writers give themselves loopholes to keep the story going. Yeah, that's just the industry. I understand. But damn it's annoying for meticulous people like myself. I can't help it. It bothers the crap out of me. I get aggravated by all around bad writing (& ofc bad has all to do with your opinion.) & it's only because I experience stories always as a write. An upside though, is when there's a magnificent story with a wonderful storyline, character base, & overall productive, I enjoy it a lot more than I think a normal viewer would. So the glass is still half full. It's not all terrible.
The last time that I was on the forums, I was talking about starting a novel & finishing it. I was very determined to finish that novel, & I got a lot of advice that worked for me, & a lot of advice that didn't. I tried to force myself to write, but that just didn't work for me. I ended up just giving myself a break. I tried to write a little bit everyday, but I eventually started dreading writing at the end of everyday, and I didn't like that feeling. So, I've reverted back my old habits somewhat: not forcing myself to write, & letting my creativity flow by itself. I do write a lot, though. I used to just go months w/out writing, but at most now I only go 2 weeks. I was focusing on just one novel, but now I just write little bits of different stories. I mean, I could stay & focus on one novel, but eventually when I start forcing myself, it takes the fun out of it, and I don't want writing to be not fun. Yes, I understand it can be work, but I want it to be fun work. I want to love writing, not dread my writing hour each day. So, I write what comes to me when it wants to come. I started a short story the other day. It's a mystery, my first mystery, & I think it's coming along quite well. It's a short story based off of an original series of mine that's very close to my heart & has been for a very long time. I'm also experimenting with a new character, that I've come to adore quite a lot. I just had surgery yesterday, so I've been rather miserable, & this story has served as a wonderful distraction from my post-operative pain. That's what writing has always supposed to do for me, make me happy & be the highlight of my life. I don't want to force productivity & destroy a good thing. If it's not broke, it doesn't need to be fixed. I've found a happy medium between the forcing productivity & my bad habit of getting side-tracked. I'm going to stay here & just take it as I go.
Finally! Success! Some remnant of progress! It has taken me about six days, but I've finally finished chapter six of my main novel. This is just one of those chapters that are just boring to write. I already have everything planned out, and it's just takes physical work to get it written, no more artistic expression to it. I've told myself the last three days that I would finish the chapter! "I'll finish it tonight! I just know it!" And of course...I became distracted, jaded, and quit for the night. But finally tonight, even if I had to keep coming back to it after many breaks, I finished the chapter. Now the easy part - proofread & edit, & then I'll send it off to a friend & post later. I don't even care about posting it, really. I'm just glad I made progress. It's normally chapters like this that keep me from finishing a book. Perhaps I can do this. I can finally teach myself the discipline and conjure up the motivation to do this. I am so relieved. Cheers
I set a goal for myself about a week ago. I began writing a novel of mine and decided that this novel would be it! This would be the novel that I finish. At the time, when I made that decision, I was overflowing with creative juices, excited to just get my thoughts down, and I was so intrigued by the story. I was drowning in inspiration, and it was positively delightful. However, I've found myself here, just recently, straying from that excitement. Of course this is what always happens. I get excited, start the novel, get bored of it, and move on. Thankfully, though, there is a method to the madness. I try to write everyday. Even if it's just a paragraph (which, as stated before, I aim higher than) I try to get something down. As far as at least doing something everyday goes I've done pretty well. For the first couple of days, I was just shelling out chapters, one after another. I guess chapter six has decided to be the difficult chapter. This chapter has become incredibly difficult to write. I can't explain why. I don't know if the scene is just boring for me to write, or if the inspiration has just dried out. In fact, inspiration is so scarce for this chapter, that I was moved to start a new book. Which I shouldn't have done, but I gave into temptation. The ideas for the new story were distracting me from my first novel. Of course, as I predicted, I got a couple of paragraphs down for the second book, and then became bored of that. Perhaps it's not lack of inspiration. Perhaps it's stress. I've had toothaches lately, my carpal tunnel has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY worse, and I've been getting headaches a lot. Perhaps, after I finish chapter six I'll take a two or three day break. Perhaps I'll take it before I finish. I don't know. The real challenge lies with getting back into a writing routine after break. I know that taking a break, though, would do wonders from my carpal tunnel. Just stay away from the computer in general. Bye, bye Facebook! And, right on time, the pain hits. My headache is worse, and my carpal tunnel is beginning to become unbearable. :/ Off I go. To pass out. Hopefully tomorrow will be less painless and more productive. Cheers.