Monday, May 17, 2010

Writing Through the Darkness

I'm pretty sure that February and March (OK, and maybe even April) are rough months for my writing. I've reviewed some manuscripts that I thought were hopeless, and they aren't so bad. I've also just submitted more stories in the mail to bring my submission count back up -- not quite at its pre-December level, but I'll get there.

I'm not sure what the best response to the bug-bear of final half of winter is. Probably Staring Into Really Bright Lights would help. And Mark would add "exercise." But I wonder if I should simply devote those six weeks to research and avoid the Pit of Despair wherein I re-write the same opening about ten times and then the rest of the manuscript circles around and around the meanders in my brain.

On the other hand, Grá Linnaea re-posted a link a while back to a web page extolling (in Latin) writers to "Shut Up and Write" -- with a warning that not writing kills the creative soul bit by bit until it becomes a shambling revenant shuffling through dark nights in search of other creative souls to devour. Which I think is true (insert image of writer-wanna-bes in a bar complaining about not writing).

But it's the cusp of Summer; soon I'll be writing enough (and complaining about the heat).

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