Monday Morning Mojo
If you work seven days a week, Monday is just another day.
As a writer, I find that the only way I can pacify my muse is to write everyday. I have learned to lower my expectations of what I will produce and I just do it. There is something strange that happens when one lowers expectations, quality goes up.
There was a study done on creativity that was really impressive. A pottery class was divided into two groups. One group was told that to pass they had to make as many pots as possible. The other group was told that they would be judged on the quality of their pots. At the end of the experiment the group whose only condition to succeed was make a lot of pots made a whopping amount of pots. However, in the push to produce amounts the quality of their pots far surpassed the quality of the group who were supposedly judged by quality.
As a writer one can get stuck in the creative process by placing to many demands on having the right word or the right sentence structure and so forth. However, as we constantly push ourselves to write and perhaps not be perfect our skills as writers improve.
I think it was Truman Capote who was asked how did he become a successful writer and he replied I get up and I write four hours every day. Even Truman had times when he probably produced some crap, but ultimately he produced a body of work that brought him fame and fortune.
Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down.
I don't know if I ever want to look at my work as being good or bad. I want to look at it getting better and better each time I write. I might fall short of the mark on some days, maybe this day, but still I will persist.
I think my writing and my attitude toward it, reflects the way that I see my life.
My life is a series of short stories - more like an anthology of life rather than a continuous plot that carries the reader forward.
http://lifewithmother.com A story about a girl's last days with her mother - another chapter of my life.
posted by Myriam Maytorena | 7:37 AM
3 Comments:
Very interesting, Myriam. I guess that explains why I often (or is it usually?) write better when I am facing a deadline. I know the article, story, whatever, has to be finished and sent in, so I just sit down and do it. Under pressure, do writers become like diamonds? What we do sparkles just a bit more?
Speaking of deadlines, I have four of them this morning. Thanks for reminding me that it can be done--and done well.
Myriam, another great piece of writing. Like Janet I write better under pressure, but that's articles. I must try your technique for my books...I may get them done.
Well, deadlines just make me write it down sooner rather than later, which lessens the probability that I will never get around to it. This is where the gain in quality comes in. I've lost many "gems" just because I never got around to writing them down. But then, there is more where that came from.
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