Stomp

Another Sunday already. We’ve reached that time of year that involves a lot of blankets and wearing gloves to type.  All the running in the world isn’t going to increase my circulation to the point of warmth now we’ve hit November. On the upside, I don’t really need to paint my nails because they’re almost permanently an attractive violet-blue sort of colour.

I’m behind on NaNoWriMo. My inner editor has been up on her soapbox all week, with a megaphone and one of those football fan noise-making things, and I’ve been unable to write a paragraph without consulting thesauruses and hating every line I eventually eke out. I believe this is Week 2 blues. It’s also a side effect of knowing roughly what I’m doing with the story (no shrugging and saying, “Well, let’s see where THAT line takes us!”). Having a plot in mind is a blessing and a curse, as it turns out. I’ll catch up.

The other reason I’m behind, though, is the abrupt realisation that I’m taking writing rather more seriously these days (see ‘Having a plot’, above). More seriously than just having a blog that I spout into, anyway – although I’m trying really hard not to be a pretentious asshat about it all. Once upon a time I wanted nothing more than to be a writer, and I lost that somewhere along the route to adulthood. When I did consider it again, I spent a lot of time talking myself out of trying. There’s no one quite like oneself for stomping all over your own ideas. My inner editor does not tread softly when she treads on my dreams – she wears stilettos and does a fucking hardcore tap dance. But I guess a bit of stamping around at least checks that the foundation’s solid.

I’ve started putting out feelers to get words printed and uploaded elsewhere, which takes time and, er, more writing, actually. I’ve also been working on some short stories and poetry, with a view to sending them to a couple of magazines.  So Nano has suffered, but everything else has been doing ok. Hopefully I’ll have some concrete news about this stuff in the future. Watch this space, as they say.

As to what’s brought this on – it’s really tempting at this point to do the lazy bloggers’ thing and resort to writing a list of How to Get Inspired; How to Stick to a Plan; or How to Whatever – but there’s no  list. I’m just lucky enough at the moment to be frequently in touch with a few inspiring people, and to be aware that they’re inspiring not just because they’re talented, but because they work really hard at developing that talent. Which is not to say I have much talent to work with, but to some extent putting in the miles works on all fronts. Metaphorically speaking.

Also I don’t want to come up with a list, because I really want to get back to what I’m working on. Today has yielded results on both the song writing and poetry front. One day I might even have the guts to put the end results out here.

Running continues runningly, with both huskies and human delighted with the weather, as the very cold that is making it uncomfortable to sit still and write this is making going for a run a joy. Also muddy. Also I seem to be getting faster, which is nice.

This entry brought to you by Focus@Will which, even if it’s a placebo effect, has worked wonders since I started using it today.