I am currently reading: Poliakoff Plays: One, Stephen Poliakoff, Methuen, 1989. ISBN 0 413 624609I have discovered a new burst of energy this week. A new resolution. A fresh determination. A can do attitude.
In short I have been working consistently on my book.
It still feels like climbing the north face of the Eiger in the dark during a total eclipse of the moon. However, with the trusty torch of determination in one hand and the glittering ice pick of resolution in the other, I am making progress. (Shades of Jonathan Aitken. I just hope I am not heading for a similar pratfall.)
Little sparks of inspiration light my way. I walk to work with my head filled with the conversations of my protagonists. I suddenly freeze, with hand outstretched to pick up a tin of tomatoes in Waitrose, as I discover a hitherto hidden facet of one of my characters. Somebody makes an innocent comment and I find I have resolved a structural issue.
As for the writing process itself, it remains slow, painful, and filled with moments of despondency. However, I can see, perhaps for the first time, the shape of a complete novel.
So I have decided to put in abeyance all doubts and just concentrate on completing it. After all, I reason with sageness of Socrates, there will be nothing to praise if there is nothing to praise.
So my resolution is to complete the first draft by my birthday. By 2nd December. There, I have made a public commitment.
After thought:
What I really need is a gentle dominatrix - if that is not an oxymoron. I used to have one such when I worked in advertising. Her name was/is Mary Hazell, Head of Production.
Dear Mary could wield the whip so gently yet effectively that no diva in the creative department, no matter how recalcitrant or difficult, ever missed a deadline. With kind words and flattery, but always with the whip in view, she could coax copy out of a hand turned to stone.
(Picture of typewriter © C. Sommerer & L. Mignonneau)
4 comments:
Well done on writing and setting a deadline. You will do it!
Thanks so much, Liz,
I needed a fillip now. My elder daughter, who stayed last night and who is about to move into her her first home, her first wholly owned home, has just returned back to London.
I hate it.
Not her moving into her new home, but her going back. I get so low. It is very depressing.
And that is always compounded by the fact that that feeling is very possessive or self-pitying or useless.
Hmm> Not in a good place just now.
Hope you have moved up to a better place and have kept writing. Focus on the good stuff :-)
Sorry, Sophia, for some inexplicable reason I rejected your comment - so have had to cut and paste it. And thanks for it, and you too Liz
The setting of and accomplishing of personal goals are enlifting experiences. The first stepping stone is the building of the motivation, which I've at times found difficult to do, but once that mountain is climbed it's all downhill from there.
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