Tag: c280k

Memorable quote:

“Your imagination is both silly and holy.”

I think my lack of enthusiasm this week is more than just the loss of motivation. The first week, I did something out of my norm and learned new things. This week, he’s focusing on a different technique intended to turn off the inner critic that keeps words from coming out. 

Thing is, I use this technique all the time. It’s actually how I write most things – just get the words on the page and make them good later. So I’ve come to realize that I am not the intended audience of this week’s focus. Of course I’m not going to feel as motivated or as engaged; I’m not doing anything new.

Today was easier because he gave direction and had me do something I almost never do. And now, I have the potential plot idea for a completely different novel. I’m digging it, but I’m also realizing that my drive isn’t gone, it’s just stagnating because I’m not doing anything new.

It’ll get there again, I’m certain of it. He’ll probably focus on something different next week and if he doesn’t, then I’ll just get more time to write over all these other ideas.

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Memorable quote:

“As a writer, your brain will do funny things if you feed it stimuli it wasn’t expecting.”

My motivation for this has ended. This challenge is no longer new to me, so it’s lost it’s sparkly appeal. However, it’s only a 20 minute listen, so that’s helped me continue keeping it in my schedule. I knew this was coming, I knew the ‘newness’ would fade, I knew it would become harder for me to motivate myself, but I’m just sad to see it happen right now.

I recently bought a desk that I’ve put upstairs in our bedroom and I’ve set up my laptop and a couple journals up here, which has been nice. It’s amazing to have a place dedicated to writing again. However, what I have noticed is that I’m leaving my laptop there and I’m reading everywhere else. I don’t spend hours surfing the web anymore, which has actually done a lot with my productivity.

I love the freedom and versatility of a laptop, but I almost feel I’m most productive with the stability and consistency of a desk. Huh.

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Memorable quote:

“It’s okay to write without self-criticism…if we sometimes just sit down and do it.”

Yesterday and today, I’ve focused these writing exercises on an unknown fictional story. Part because I wanted to stretch my creative brain and part because I didn’t want to have to deal with the pure stream of consciousness I got on Friday. But in this, I have completely new characters and a new setting that I’ve never thought about – except I have.

Last week, I found myself creating two particular characters through name and personality and conflict and further on. Now, one of the characters is showing up as a supporting character to the main one I’ve been writing about, but I know all three of them are related. And I’m writing the second book in what’s probably a trilogy. 

I don’t know that I’ll ever get to actually writing these books because I have a lot of projects between now and then, but I’m loving the feel of this. The depth of these story lines. It’s encouraging to see that my brain can weave through different plots, even when I don’t think I am.

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Memorable quote:

“It’s interesting how awake we are in new places.”

I think I’ve said before that I’m actively trying not to spoil what each day’s exercise is and I’m going to continue, but today’s audio included something other than the norm and it really had me thinking. He walked through a cemetery during the timed exercise because new places can really get our minds churning and it reminded me of my honeymoon.

Husband and I spent a week in NYC and it was absolutely amazing for quite a few reasons, but what surprised me and really sticks out is how much inspiration I got from just walking. Waiting for a subway or passing by a building and my mind was whirling with all of these different story ideas. And I finished Camp Nano’s 50,000 words the day before we boarded the plane, so it’s not like I hadn’t been writing. I was planning on not doing anything creative after that writing camp, but then was immersed with bounds of sudden creativity.

I forgot about that. Not that I forgot the ideas, but I forgot how inspiring a new place can be. 

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Memorable quote:

“You’re not risking anything with humor.”

Here’s another day where the quote I liked is not going to at all relate to what I’m going to talk about.

Today was our first day of ‘actual’ writing and I…shot out a stream of horseshit. Okay, not really because I was really getting into something by the end, but it started out with an inner monologue relating to myself and holy crap do I spiral down the rabbit holes when thinking.

But he focused in on how much we use humor to keep ourselves safe. We ease through sarcasm and self-deprecating jokes and keep from putting ourselves out there, and it made me try to focus on what I was actually thinking without putting it off with something else. 

I should have done this exercise before I finished the book I was reading. I think it would have turned out drastically different if I wasn’t still feeling the disappointment I got from the novel.

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Memorable quote:

“It’s good for the soul to be beginnery.”

I want to bookmark this particular day. He spoke for quite a few minutes about the internal critic we all have and the self-doubt we go through while writing a book. It wasn’t long – maybe six or seven minutes or so, but enough that I have a few things I wrote down to keep.

He’s touched on this on and off through the week. While writing a draft, we’re so often tempted to compare the very raw, very rough first draft with finished novels we’ve read – novels that have gone through several drafts and multiple edits. Turning off the inner critic is a hard thing to do, but a necessary one because it’s not good for creativity. 

I have a few quotes written down that I will be throwing at certain people when they need it. Sometimes you have to let things be shit in order to improve.

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Memorable quote:

“Sometimes it can be destructive to read while you’re trying to write.”

I hate how true this is. I hate it because I love reading. I mean I love reading. I get snippy if I go periods of time without reading. (And by “periods of time” I mean a week…maybe.) It’s one of the easiest ways to let my mind soar and it’s my favorite pastime and I get bored if I don’t.

But during the camps this year I barely read. I remember in April, I would use the book I was reading as a ‘reward’ for hitting my daily goal. I didn’t intend to use it this way, but I was having this super hard time finding motivation to write, so I picked out one of my favorite books and told myself if I hit my word count goal, I could stop writing and start reading. And I used that method for the three days I was reading that book. I tried to continue it, but Nano is intensive and reading would be sporadic when I was writing.

The destructive part comes when I’m so engrossed in the book, I don’t want to write. Period. Or I’ll get sucked in by an author’s voice that my writing will switch gears suddenly and things change up to almost mimic what I’ve been reading. While this is the first draft and those issues will be edited out and smoothed over, it’s still frustrating to look back and see that I went way off into left field because what I was reading was nothing like what I was writing, so things got jumbled.

I have to be more intent with the books I decide to read while writing. I can’t not read, that doesn’t work for me. But I can cull my available books to better help me focus toward what I want to write. It’s definitely something to revisit when I start writing again.

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Memorable Quote:

“These processes condition your brain so when you approach writing the stupidly complex, punishingly long artistic form that is The Novel, you’ve got resources you can draw on.”

Okay, so this actually isn’t the quote the struck me most, but it’s the one that made me laugh because you can hear the capitalization in his voice. I had to listen to this sentence three times because the building sarcasm and self-deprecation was beautiful.

The thing he said that actually was my favorite of today’s exercise is “So much of this stuff that we think is willpower…is actually just an organizational problem.” It’s touching on the fact that these exercises are not at all what I expected them to be and not at all what I thought I would find. Instead, it’s about building a habit and scheduling writing to become an intrinsic part of your day.

Which is hard. Having done Camp Nano twice this year, I know I can write almost every day, but to continue that long term? Not so much. So maybe this slower, easier paced way will help me find a better schedule than the ones I’ve attempted earlier this year.

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Memorable quote:

“The point is to piss about.”

There are actually a few quotes I jotted down during this episode that I want to keep, but when trying to narrow them down to one, I had a clear winner. It’s not the most useful quote or the most inspiring quote or even the quote that makes me think the most, but it’s my favorite because it’s all of those things and more.

Tim is a big fan of lists. I’m not – at least, I haven’t been. I understand their importance and I get how they’re useful, but I’ve never thought of myself as a list-keeper. My husband and I have often poked fun at my oldest sister and her mass of lists, my favorite quote so far from my husband being, “She has a list for her lists.” Only the way Tim spoke about lists in this episode made me rethink that because I do keep lists. Maybe not the same as my sister, but I definitely have them in my own way.

And I’ve realized they’re fun. Or maybe Tim’s made them fun. Or maybe I’m letting myself have fun. Either way, it’s something to think on because if I were to change today’s memorable quote, it would be to “Lists are the creative mind’s best friend.” I hadn’t made that connection at all until he said it and made me actually look at my life and see it.

So now, I guess I’ll embrace a few more lists. Especially now that I’ve typed that word so much, it no longer appears real.

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