Day 75: The Bar Set Too High (Writer’s Block)

In @lainastanford and I’s frantic attempts to get ready for NaNoWriMo next next week (:scream:) , I’m was debating with myself whether or not I should continue tagging the usual suspects in my dailies coming forward. In a similar attack from three angles angles,

1.) @chrispawar shared an internal memo with the @wildcat group that we should stop taking ourselves so seriously and be okay with putting out less-than-stellar dailies for critique. Just about everyone chimed in at this very duh moment, but the intent was still powerful. What matters this early on in the journey is quantity > quality. The quality comes later when we finally get into true form.

2.) @miketorrey recently shared a real-eye opening video about putting out bad work consistently and with intention: [quote=”miketorrey, post:555, topic:27328”] #76 - Ira Glass… Do the work!

Have you seen this…? so relevant to our work at PRO2 TCW… (< 2 mins.)

Ira Glass on the Creative Process (www.getoutthebox.org)

Don’t Quit! [/quote]

3.) In another one of those mega duh moments, I found out Seth has a podcast :upside_down_face: I listened to an earlier episode today regarding Writer’s Block as it’s my biggest hurdle in the battle coming next month… and Seth just reiterates what Chris and Mike and also Seth-but-earlier-in-the-workshop has been saying this entire time: just continue putting out the bad work, because what matters more is the consistency than the outcome. That the work actually exists and is not just stuck in your head for fear of x reasons.

Mulling over these details and finally coming to terms with the fact that quite frankly, I am massively underprepared to write a whole structured novel for 30 days, I shrug my shoulders and roll up my sleeves to ready myself at my electronic typewriter. I will continue writing, I will continue tagging, it will be raw as heck and probably nonsensical the first go-around, and I will embrace every step of the way.

What I Am Not

For better of worse, I don’t live in an isolated box. My life winds itself tightly with the paths of others, but slowly, I am untangling myself to find the true party worth journeying with. For the longest time, I have always been saying yes for fear of missing out. Hilariously enough, I have to start learning how to say no, and not make is personal in the same rebuff. Time is the fire in which we all burn, and I want to continue to fulfilling myself by working today on tasks that quite frankly, shouldn’t and can’t be put off until tomorrow.

(My two alarms for warning me to go to bed, and WARNING ME AGAIN BUT SERIOUSLY to go to bed have just gone off. Time to wrap this up :sleeping: :sleeping_bed:)

In that very same breath, I will grit my teeth and accept that I will not be a professional on weekends and late into the night. Not now, anyway. I still need to find-tune my balancing act to find a schedule I am happy with, where I can dedicate as much time as needed for my craft without shoving aside those important to me (especially my sleep. I’ve had late nights working on some of my favorite dailies, but wow was the following day just absolutely awful. The story will still be there primed for writing tomorrow because of my awesome notes. I won’t be primed for writing if I keep these atrocious sleeping habits :upside_down_face:). Instead I will take these fleeting encounters and connections, pay closer attention, and create new meaning from them, but only if I were truly to step into the moment instead of forever worrying about whether or not I’m doing the right thing.

@michellebasey @sabweld @mariasokolowska
@dragon @homeroom11