Something I learned last year in a fabulous writing class by Barbara O’Neal is that once you start publishing, you still need to make time to write just for yourself.
When it’s not work, when it’s not for anybody else, when what you do doesn’t matter, you go back to the same sense of freedom and possibility you had before you published. You have a safe place to fail. You can experiment, you can write a sex scene in iambic pentameter, you can use a rhythmic pattern based on the Fibonacci sequence, you can put all the dialog in haiku, you can use the point of view of a chandelier. You can experiment wildly and fail spectacularly and it’s okay. It’s a safe place to play and dream and try new things.
When you start publishing, it’s easy to lose that sense of freedom and the willingness to fail. You start to play it safe. You want to please everybody. You want to get the writing RIGHT and forget that sometimes right isn’t the point. It’s only when you’re willing to fail and write with that sense of freedom and safety that you can do something that might really succeed. And that carries over into the work that’s published.
What have you written just for yourself lately?
Wise advice. I’m trying to get three new books written between now and June so I can take the summer and just work on one or two ideas I’ve had for books. No pressure. Just for me. I’m looking forward to it.
NJ, I’m on the same plan. I have scheduled work to turn in through May, and then I may not contract anything else until September. Maybe I’ll spend the summer being Charlotte. Maybe I’ll spend the summer counting cloud forms and growing a garden. But I am looking forward to some space to create in just to see what I can do, not to meet a schedule.
I love this! It is so true. I’ve recently found that I block myself into not writing at all. I worry about how my “great” idea isn’t the standard for a romance novel, and it’s breaking the “rules” or that a certaiin point of view is not “appropriate” for that genre. I end up just shucking it out the door before I’ve given it a chance!
Lately what I’ve started writing for myself is my journal. I know that sounds strange because a journal really is supposed to be for yourself and no one else. I’ve started writing about a certain point in my life in particular up to today. What I’m doing different is writing it like a story rather than just spilling the events of the day out on paper. It’s turning out pretty good even though no one will see it until after I kick the bucket, or not unless I decide to keep my “little secret” and throw it into the fireplace after I’m done. 😀
“It’s only when you’re willing to fail and write with that sense of freedom and safety that you can do something that might really succeed. And that carries over into the work that’s published.” Thank you for the great advice!
Jody
Jody, a journal is a great place to write! Some writers do a sort of ceremony or ritual to go into their safe writing space mentally. Whatever works. I think this is what Stephen King meant by writing with the door closed. It’s just you and the story and the world out there doesn’t get to come in.
My pirates! I have a pirate couple who are an homage to those big fat romances I loved as a teen, only more explicit and much shorter. (The story, not the pirates.) When I’m stressed I work for a couple of hours on that because it’s just for fun.
Oh, man, Shan. You make me want to pull out the pirate scenes I sketched out. Arrrrr! (And if you ever want to show that to somebody, you have my email addy!)
I would really like to read your sex scene in iambic pentameter. LOL.
I write 3 pages in a journal every morning, for my eyes only. I also write erotica under a different name. It allows me to be politically incorrect, morally ambiguous and all sorts of other naughty things.
:)Becky
Becky, I still do the morning pages, too. And it can be so useful to have another pen name to put on like a costume!
Well I began my blog with the knowledge no one but my friends would read it and didn’t take myself seriously. Then a few industry-type people showed up and nerves kicked in. I feel like I lost my intention and my zest for a little while as a consequence.
But the holidays helped to regain my perspective and I’ll do my best to make it a place of play and fun.
Wrt fiction, I do a number of short pieces that have no commercial value, and that no one will ever see. They come out of the blue and I just follow them. They keep me sane. Er, somewhat sane. 🙂
Sounds like a good plan. And sanity is a very valid reason to write!
Okay you’ve got me curious. I’m not sure I could pull off the sex scene in Iambic pentameter, but the rhythm based on the Fibonacci sequence sounds intriquing. And for just myself? I wrote a blog entry. 🙂
Ann, you’d have to skip the 0 obviously and start with 1,1, but it’d make a fun exercise, wouldn’t it? Yay, you’re blogging again.