Sunday, November 13, 2005

Time and the River

Writers have a tendency to think that the collective response to what they write will be evident soon after they publish, like reactions to speeches often are. But curiously, I have seen more visits to my postings on this site since I stopped writing to it than during all the previous weeks when I actually wrote those posts. Writing hangs around, sometimes for quite a while.

I'm not posting as regularly these days as I did last summer and early fall. I'm not sure why that is. I thought it was because I got pretty busy after Hurricane Wilma with cleanup, then with catching up with my classes once we resumed our semester. But I now believe that's not the sole reason. The fact is, I may be getting tired of it. Clearly my mind's on other things these days.

I can't imagine I'd want to quit doing it, but I'll never do it from a sense of obligation. I'll blog when I want to express something, just as I wrote regularly in my longhand journal when I wanted to set down something. And these days, my attention is on action more than on reflection, on doing what I need to do each day.

However, from writing my longhand journal for three decades, I'm certain of one thing: I'll be back. I'm a writer, and writers can't help ourselves; we must write. We have our dry spells and our blocks, but we never can ignore that imp in us that compels us to set down words and ideas for long. Maybe that's how we come to realize that we are writers.

We may write little of consequence or even of sense, but we will write something. Similarly, I know I'll continue to write my longhand journal no matter how much I also post to my blogs. Neither can replace the other, any more than I could stop thinking to myself because I say things to others, or vice versa. I realize that I will probably always do both.

What I can't predict is when I will do either.

2 comments:

Carol Anne said...

You are a writer, and you have a voice. You have an audience who wants to hear from you.

You are right that you shouldn't write just simply because you feel an obligation to do so. And you certainly shouldn't feel an obligation to post something on your blog, except for maybe the occasional notice that you're still alive, so we don't worry about you.

However, I believe you could gain something from National Novel Writing Month. It's a completely artificial deadline, with a ridiculous goal of producing 50,000 words in 30 days.

Those 50,000 words don't have to be good words, and in many cases, they are utter drivel. But cranking out 50,000 words of drivel is preferable to producing a couple hundred well-considered-in-advance words. You can go back later and clean up the drivel, and you end up with 30,000 to 40,000 really worthwhile words.

Of course, some of this is tied in with what your goals are for your writing. If you want to write a novel, NaNo is a great way to start. If you want to write the occasional reflection piece, then what you're doing with your blog right now works.

R the Great said...

Maybe it is like most things I attempt...sewing, crafts, cooking, or being active in a club, after putting so much time and effort into it you just get burned out. It's nice to take a break.