Slaying the Authorial Guilt Monster

[rj_anderson]

matociquala speaks Great Wisdom, and not for the first time:

I hereby declare today, December 16, 2008, the first annual freedom from writing guilt day. On this day, I empower everybody who is engaged in some kind of creative endeavor who reads these words to quit feeling guilty for doing it wrong.

She then goes on to mention five popular pieces of writing advice she will henceforth be ignoring, and ends with the only four musts that any working writer really needs to follow. It's a mighty fine post, and I am grateful to megancrewe for pointing me to it.

For my part, I am slowly coming to the realization that I tend to write in bursts -- not really dramatic bursts where I spend eight months of the year daydreaming about the next novel and then whip off the entire first draft in six weeks (though there are successful, published writers who do that, too), but I definitely do need some down time in between projects or I start feeling frazzled and unhappy about the whole process of writing.

Exactly how much down time I need, I couldn't tell you -- I suspect it varies with the length and ambitiousness of the project I'm working on, and the length and ambitiousness of the project that's gone before it. Not to mention all the external stresses and commitments that can interfere with my ability to be creative. But I am coming to realize that forcing myself to write to a regular schedule may not be the best process for me... not if I want to be in this business for the long haul, anyway.

And now I am going to have a nice relaxing cup of tea and some of that stuff in my icon. Mmm.

Comments

Sorry for jumping in -

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I do understand what you mean, because, as a rather underconfident person, I tended to procrastinate when younger (I still do, a bit) and I've also been reluctant to actually submit my work. I can see how the original poster's advice might strike a reader for whom the standard writing advice works well.

But, as a relative beginner, the standard advice can sometimes seem like a bludgeon. Some of us do need encouragement to trust our own process, and that is how I took the post RJ Anderson linked to. I found it very encouraging.

It's also true that some great literary figures have worked exactly this way. Tolkien, for example, who's one of my literary heroes. He was a very slow and painstaking writer who tended to revise and polish as he went. Yes, he wrote very slowly (and yes, his writing certainly isn't to every taste.) But, if he'd been forced to use a process that was unnatural to him, I'm not sure his book would have been as good as it actually is.

I hope you don't mind my commenting. I'm not being argumentative, really, and I do see what you mean, but I loved the post RJ Anderson linked to. I really did.

Re: Sorry for jumping in -

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you found the other post helpful and I don't think you're being argumentative at all. Keep writing and by all means find the method that works for you. It certainly isn't a paint by numbers process.

It may be that I can see beyond my own process these days. Though I do tell my students and anyone who asks my advice that it is more important to have a regular writing schedule than to write every day. If that means you write in bursts and then take breaks--that is cool. It's like the difference between being a sprinter and a long distance runner. You can run the same distance eventually, but your mode of doing so is different.