Monday, August 3, 2009

I want me some focus-straightening-writer's-specs

Common advice to writers is to focus on writing the next book whilst waiting to hear responses to those manuscripts already out at the publishers. This is, in my opinion, tremendous advice. A writer always needs more work to send out and it distracts from the whole business of trying to wait and pretending to be patient. But there is a spanner in the works of this advice. Pretending to be patient, especially when a few months have passed, gums up the works. I become (for want of a better word - sorry folks) constipated with my writing. I'm not blocked (that word is frowned on in this house) as i have ideas and ways to move forward on my stories, but my focus is affected and sitting down to write is...lets say, difficult. As my assignment is finally finished and is now winging its way down to Christchurch I think I may play hookey for a day or two and see if I get my focus back. Otherwise I may need to investigate the acquiring of some special focus-straightening-writers-glasses - I woner if these will be available at the Spinning Gold conference.

I am also finding that while recent events have well motivated my writing of short works, my longer works are experiencing a dip in confidence and they have been seen wearing hoodies and milling around with bad postures in darkened corners at the mall.

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