Where the knots in tales become untangled…
I recently read an article about how the average American goes for weeks without writing anything by hand. At first my brain rebelled at the idea, but, after giving it more thought, I realized that this was a reasonable assessment. Aside from the occasional Post-It note or shopping list, most folks prefer to type rather than write.
So I’m curious to know: do you prefer to write out scenes and notes by hand or with a keyboard?
I recently read a book called iDisorder, which was recommended to me by my onii-san, David Greenshell. It’s about how the pervasive technology around us has encouraged the widespread development of behaviors that have the same symptoms as mental disorders, such as OCD, ADHD, addiction, narcissism, depression, and schizophrenia. I highly recommend it because so many behaviors that seem “normal” now in relation to technology maybe shouldn’t be granted an exemption from concern.
Before I go any father, let me just say that I am not a naysayer to technology. I have this blog, don’t I? I also have numerous accounts all over the web, I own a cell phone (not a SmartPhone, thank God), and I probably spend more time than I should on Facebook and Twitter. I suppose I am a little different from the majority of my generation because I do not have internet access at home, nor do I own a laptop, tablet, e-reader, or any other device that would allow me ubiquitous access to the world wide web. Sometimes this is frustrating, even inhibiting. It’s hard to look for, or even consider pursuing, an online job without a constant internet connection, and my friends can tell you just how furious I was to hear that Diablo 3 didn’t have an off-line option like its predecessors.
“Most writers are in a state of gloom a good deal of the time; they need perpetual reassurance.”
— John Hall Wheelock
It’s been an interesting year. November and the beginning of December 2011 have been particularly rough months. I’ve undergone a lot of changes, some for better, some for worse, and some…I don’t even know yet. Maybe those I’ll figure out a little farther down the line.
These past few weeks I’ve been suffering from depression and some serious mental lapses. (As in, “I forgot to go clean that house today” kinds of mental lapses. Which is bad when half of my income is from cleaning.) And while I don’t think I’m clinically depressed, I haven’t been very chipper either. I feel like…I’ve lost my place in the world…or found out that I never actually had a place to begin with. I haven’t felt like a writer, a reader, or an otaku…just a failure. Yeah, it’s all very strange and muddled and I’m hoping that some of the bright spots that have happened within the past few days will pull me out of this grey tide back into a place where I’m content, even if I’m not happy per se.
I do think that, on this, the eve of the Winter Solstice, I have reached one of those turning points, thanks to my friend and fellow writer, Foxglove Zayuri.
Every writer goes through dry spells. Some people call this phenomenon “writer’s block,” but I think writer’s block and dry spells are two different things. Writer’s block is when you are working on a story and keep hitting a brick wall. You have a scene you need to write, or an assignment to finish and you just sit and stare blankly at the screen. You want to write, but the words just don’t come.
In contrast, I think of a dry spell as a time when your very creativity dries up. It’s not that you don’t know what to write or how to write it, but rather you don’t even feel like writing.
Personally, I find dry spells far more terrifying than writer’s block.
I think humans have a tendency to name things and make up random holidays. Throughout the year you can find instances of this. Did you know that January 10th is “Peculiar People Day?” Or that October 28th is “Plush Animal Lovers’ Day?” How about August being “National Catfish Month?” A lot of these days and months have multiple names to them. Personally, I think there’s a government committee somewhere whose sole purpose is to make these things up.
At any rate, this obsession with naming led to November being called “National Novel Writing Month.” It’s rather nice having a month dedicated to the art and craft of writing, specifically novel writing, but for most people, this month passes by unnoticed. However, the Office of Letters and Light decided to create something special. They made a contest also called “National Novel Writing Month,” affectionately dubbed “NaNoWriMo” (pronounced “NAH-no-RHYME-oh”.) It challenges would-be novelists to write 50,000 words, the minimum requirement for a novel, in 30 days. There is no cash prize and there are no judges to evaluate your work.
The purpose of NaNoWriMo is to get writers to stop agonizing over perfecting each passage before moving on, to break the rut of perfectionism and procrastination that dogs the heels of authors. In order to help writers complete that first draft, the emphasis is on quantity, not quality. Now, granted, a writer could just sit down and type the same sentence over and over until they reached 50,000 words, but NaNoWriMo offers little incentive for such a path. With no cash value and no one reading your work beyond the snippets you choose to post, there is no reason not to sit down and write. All you have to enter is the number of words you wrote, and, at the end of the contest, an on-site word validator proves that yes, you actually did write that number of words. If you reach 50,000 words, you get bragging rights and the satisfaction of reaching your goal. And if you only wrote, say 30,000 words, or 20,000, or even 10,000, you still have more done now than you did at the start of November, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Continue reading “How the Office of Letters and Light helped me start (and stay) writing:”
The Cat's Cradle : On Hiatus! 