My favorite professor in college said to never sit down to write anything unless it’s bursting out of you, unless you can’t stand the fact that it’s sitting in you anymore, burning a hole straight through the good parts of you. Only write the story when it feels like it will be expelled out of you, like green pea soup after crawling backwards down the stairs. I’ve never taken anything more seriously when it comes to writing advice than that. To just wait.
Forgive my bluntness, Casey. (I have your first name as my last.) Just saw this and I think your professor was a damn idiot. If we all waited until the stars melted with our passionate ideas, there would be, like, two books in the world. We are writers. We write. Some days it's like being in love. Other days it's like mining for diamonds and coming up with coal. Just puke it out. Even if you throw it out later. It doesn't matter. In the end, it's all spring training to write the book we dream of. I've written a memoir and I'm shopping for an agent. For 18 months, 4 days a week, I sat down and wrote something. Sometimes it was 200 words. Sometimes it was 1200. Sometimes it sucked. Sometimes it was just OK. Doesn't matter. You can fix it in the end. Don't wait to swoon - just write.
Just write. That’s my motto. Maybe I was considered talented back in college, but it was different then. I know what you mean about writing for class. Luckily, I’ve always ignored advice. And so I write. Probably twelve novels at this point, tons of short stories, lots of lame poems, song fragments and the like. Now and then I have an idea, and I’ll think about it for a long, long time because it’s so good I don’t want to lose that feeling. Then I’ll sit down one Sunday morning and write three one thousand page stories. Later, when I read them, I am surprised (mostly in a good way). And so I write. Not successfully, I should add, if you measure success by books in print and sales of said books. But that’s okay. Best of luck.
I have to disagree with your professor…I think you should write down even the silliest, most ridiculous thinks that might come to mind…..remember, Charles and Henry were major drunks! Cheers!
Kudos to you for questioning a process that wasn’t working for you and setting a new trajectory. You know what you need to do and how to get there. Just like with any new regimen, start slow and build. You got this!
Forgive my bluntness, Casey. (I have your first name as my last.) Just saw this and I think your professor was a damn idiot. If we all waited until the stars melted with our passionate ideas, there would be, like, two books in the world. We are writers. We write. Some days it's like being in love. Other days it's like mining for diamonds and coming up with coal. Just puke it out. Even if you throw it out later. It doesn't matter. In the end, it's all spring training to write the book we dream of. I've written a memoir and I'm shopping for an agent. For 18 months, 4 days a week, I sat down and wrote something. Sometimes it was 200 words. Sometimes it was 1200. Sometimes it sucked. Sometimes it was just OK. Doesn't matter. You can fix it in the end. Don't wait to swoon - just write.
Just write. That’s my motto. Maybe I was considered talented back in college, but it was different then. I know what you mean about writing for class. Luckily, I’ve always ignored advice. And so I write. Probably twelve novels at this point, tons of short stories, lots of lame poems, song fragments and the like. Now and then I have an idea, and I’ll think about it for a long, long time because it’s so good I don’t want to lose that feeling. Then I’ll sit down one Sunday morning and write three one thousand page stories. Later, when I read them, I am surprised (mostly in a good way). And so I write. Not successfully, I should add, if you measure success by books in print and sales of said books. But that’s okay. Best of luck.
I have to disagree with your professor…I think you should write down even the silliest, most ridiculous thinks that might come to mind…..remember, Charles and Henry were major drunks! Cheers!
Kudos to you for questioning a process that wasn’t working for you and setting a new trajectory. You know what you need to do and how to get there. Just like with any new regimen, start slow and build. You got this!