In Mosley's book, This Year Your Write Your Novel, which I mentioned in the last post, he talks about why it's important to work every day. I've also talked about his essay on writing in which he says you must visit with your work daily, and if you let three days go by, the dream of the work evaporates. (Google "Walter Mosley New York Times Writers on Writing" and you will find the essay I'm talking about.)
Starletta's Kitchen sat untouched for three weeks or more while I worked on the proposal and so when I picked it up this morning, it took a while to realize where I was at. I saw the blue pages of the new draft (Ron Carlson said he types different drafts on different colored paper so he knows what draft to grab for readings) and realized I had already gone through the entire mss., crossing things out, deleting, making notes for places to add, and had already begun typing out a new draft. Duh.
And so was reminded of Walter Mosley's advice to visit your work daily, else lose the drift, lose your place, and lose motivation.
.....
Travis and I were watching the Food Network last night and Bobby Flay (and if you watch the Food Network, you know who he is) said, "If you're not nervous about your passion, you're not passionate about it." I ran and wrote this down to share with you. So true. Often we misinterpret nervousness or anxiety and stop doing what it is that makes us anxious rather than throwing ourselves into it.
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5 comments:
So much good advice here - and comforting to know that my feelings of nervousness are really just part of putting something I love doing out into the world.
Deirdre,
I've been doing my show for 10 years (!) and I still get nervous. I take that as a good sign.
The first two years of doing my show I about had a nervous breakdown prior. I thought it was a horrible sign but I figured eventually it would get better, and it did.
GREAT quote from Flay! Thank you for passing it on.
I think when you set down what you've been working on, your unconscious may take it up; and if your unconscious does so during a period of revision, when the soil has been turned over, then some new things may sprout where they are needed. Not to disagree with what Moseley said, but maybe sometimes you can forget about something and still be working on it.
I think one of the reasons I keep wanting to start my novel over and over is because I do stay away from it for long periods of time.
THx for this post, Barbara, it really turned a light on for me.
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