Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I don't think more writing can be healthy for a writer.

I hate it when I have weeks like this.  The last two days have certainly been busy, and hectic, but the truth of the matter is, I've been a real slackass and haven't gotten much done.  How is this physiologically possible?  I mean, I've applied for some acting jobs out of it, and that's good because it's a paid gig for Halloween--one of my favourite times--but what else do I have to show for it?  Uh, a novel that didn't get worked on yesterday because I could feel my mind beginning to implode, and as of right now I still need to sit down with it, and two columns I am just now getting to, and here it is, 10:00 at night.  (Which really sounds more dramatic than it is, because I end up turning in usually no earlier than 5 A.M.  But follow along.)

*sigh*  Doesn't speak too well of my social life, does it?  I mean, it's not like I even had one up until now, but now it seems the small one I was beginning to cultivate has gone to hell in a big old doily-covered basket.  That doesn't make me happy.

But let's not gloss over this head-implosion thing.  Today I was considering all of this swirling eddy around me, and was wondering just how healthy all of this writing can really be.  On one hand, I can understand how it helps a writer to...um...actually...well...write.  It's perfect for cultivating a talent for becoming better, and even, *gasp* garnering a healthy career.  But how healthy can it be for one's psyche?  Mine is pretty unstable at best anyway; add to it the stress of non-stop writing and contributing and where does it get me?  I'll put it this way:  last night, I was ready to get in a tower, and hurt some people.  Me, with a loaded gun?  It ain't pretty.

How do others do it?  I'm learning that with all the writing involved in this self-promotion roller coaster, there comes a healthy dose of stress, and writers are pretty unstable people anyway; we'll be the first to admit it.  Are they just better with managing their time, maybe?  Oh, wait.  I know.  They have a staff of ghost-writers who pull columns together for their contributing articles, and they hire grade-school kids to work on their blogs, while they soak up all the glory by continuing to publish novels non-stop; novels that make Grisham and King go, "Wha?  How'd you do that?"  This has to be the way it happens, and I'm too much of a moron to notice, so here I am, plugging along, actually trying to write what it is that has my name on it.  *slaps forehead*

Ow! 

I don't know.  I just know that sometimes when I sit down to do this, I end up not having any clue as to what I'm going to say, until I just start typing.

Maybe that's the answer.  I just have to get out of my head, and let my fingers do the talking, no matter how much I need to publish in one day.  I know that the feeling once I get rolling and really into what I'm saying, is one I love--very freeing--almost like flying:  a secret no one else knows.  I guess that's what really keeps writers coming back for more.  A writer's high.  Knowing you've said something and done a great job at it as well.  A friend once said to me in my online writing group years ago, that he was certain I had the talent to become a writer:  he just wasn't certain I had the discipline.

I'm beginning to wonder if he was right.

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