I finally have a follower!
That really probably shouldn't make me as ridiculously happy as it does, but it does please me and I have to thank her. I know who it is and my lovely co-worker has always rocked like that. But that is not what I wanted to stop by and talk about today. I just wanted to mention that before I actually went on into this particular post itself.
You see, my goal for this year is to write a million words. That would end up at around ten novels give or take the length and such. The only problem has been that I haven't written much of anything for the past few days. I haven't even been able to manage a thousand words. My muse just kind of crawled into a corner and died. I've poked it with a stick and I haven't been able to get any kind of response or residual semblance of life from it at all.
And I have to say that when you have times like this, it can be very disheartening. You look at the documents or the sheets of paper that you have set before yourself and there is absolutely nothing. It is as if the characters inside of you have refused to speak. They have all decided to turn their backs, or worse: simply drift away from you possibly never to return.
It is moments like this when we forget the reason why we always wanted to write in the first place. It is when times are darkest that we always seem to forget what writing really means to us. It becomes more about the process and the forcing out of the words rather than the art of bringing a story or an idea to life. We find ourselves caring more about the end than the means.
There are two ways of thoughts. The end justifies the mean and the means justify the end. It's two very different thought processes. But for a writer, I think you have to have both. For any artist or creator really you cannot have one thought without the other. On the one hand to do anything in your power to create the story or idea you want to build you can lower yourself to things such as plagiarism.
At the same time, you cannot only focus on the writing. When you do that, you become so focused on creating something that isn't real. You want it to be perfect and such a thing is impossible. A story is neither about the beginning nor the end. It is neither about the presentation nor the selling point. Writing is about finding what we have inside of us and letting it free. It is about blending everything together.
Of course when you find yourself becoming too technical you kill the whole the thing which is honestly the point that I think I am getting to about now. And I'm not meaning to. I don't think that we ever mean to really. It is something that just happens. Before we even realize it we lose what we were struggling so hard to find.
Sometimes we just have to go back to the basics.
Everyone seems to think that the basics would refer to grammar and spelling, sentence structure and word choice. And one some level those are a form of the basics. But there is something even more basic and essential than all of that. And it all stems from the question of: why write?
Honestly I think that if you can't answer that question than you need to have a long hard look at yourself. It is the key to everything. Why we write tells us what we write. It tells us what writing makes us and how it makes us feel. It tells us everything that we need to know. And more importantly: it gives us our inspiration. If you don't know why you write why would you ever feel the urge or the need for it? And once you can understand why that is when you can actually look around yourself and find those little things in life that draw you in. The things that make you say: this is what I want to write about or this would make an amazing line or what not.
The why comes before the inspiration. Sometimes you cannot define it. Sometimes you can't even explain it. The why that is. As long as you know it and can explain it to yourself that's all that really matters. No one else ever needs to understand it. The why belongs to you. The inspiration and what it spawns is what you give the world.
