Alter having read/listened to lots of other people’s opinions on finding experiences to write about etc, I set to wondering – have I been trying too hard? It’s a possibility and so I slowed right down to almost stopping and took stock. I don’t take advice easily - I´ve usually already thought of the suggestions - and so this was harder than you may imagine.
As a result the output has been slow – but, surprisingly, the worry that my skills would suddenly fall apart and disintegrate was unfounded. it was hard at first...very hard. But the slowing down has seen a rather splendid poem surface entitled “Daunting the devil”: I’m looking forward to seeing whether /where it gets accepted.
In seven days time I’ll be well on my way to my three week holiday in
1 comment:
Elizabeth Rose-
Good luck with this new approach. I know how hard it can be sometimes to step away and stop trying so hard. It has really paid off for me to do that in the past, and I hope it works for you, too.
Here's an analogy for you. I play the mandolin. I've only been playing a few years, and I still have a lot to learn. I've always heard that you have to play at least 20 minutes every day. I do that mostly, but sometimes I find myself feeling stuck. I get locked into a routine. I'm playing the same scales at the same speed, I'm playing the same chords, I'm playing the same songs. When I force myself to take a few days off, I come back and all of those patterns that had me stuck are gone. It's the same with writing. We can easily get stuck into patterns and habits that don't work for us. Breaking those patterns can really help us send our writing in a new direction.
I wish you the best of luck. Keep us updated.
John
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