The people in my part of the country don’t need a groundhog to tell them how long winter is going to last. We know we’re dreaming if we think we’ll actually have green grass in six weeks. Even if the temperatures warm up, the giant mounds of snow we have piled at the sides of our roads and driveways and side walks will be a long-lasting reminders of the freezing and snow-filled winter we’re still enduring. The only weather predicted above 0 degrees Celsius in the next two weeks is for two days of freezing rain next week, and we’d all be happy to skip that, thank you. To say spring will be welcome is an understatement. I hope you are having some sunny days where you are.
Primulas
Even with the temperatures so cold, it’s amazing what a difference a sunny day can make to my spirits. I spent most of today working in the livingroom and enjoying the sun that was streaming through the windows. Yay for laptops. After finishing the draft of an article that I have to send in on Friday, I spent a chunk of the day doing research for a new project I’m thinking about tackling. So far, so good on that front.
Do you find that the weather affects your spirits? Does a gloomy day inspire you or make you want to curl up in a blanket and nap until it’s over? I’ve added some cheerful spring photos to the blog today to remind me that winter will finally end–with or without groundhog. 🙂
Today marks day 14 of the accountability challenge, and I’ve managed to write my early morning pages for 13 of the 14 mornings. I really do work better when I have to check in with other writers. Their short emails about their progress are inspiring and a big reason why I keep going some days.
Sometimes, the early morning pages are a place to make the to-do list or rant or get things prioritized or just let the mind wander. And all that’s helpful, too. When I get to the writing later that day, the decks are cleared of whatever I left behind on the morning pages, and the writing comes a little easier. Because of a daily writing habit, I’ve drafted two short stories for an upcoming deadline and figured out how to adapt another idea for the same project. It’s a lot easier for me to find writing time later in the day, when I’ve started the morning behaving like a writer.
I’m planning a second edition of Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens and am rereading The Hunger Games as a source for some examples for various writing tips in the book. It’s quite a ride, and I’m enjoying it. I love it when research turns out to be fun!
I hope you are progressing toward your writing goals and that you have a writerly week ahead.
I have discovered an extremely effective delaying tactic–research. As long as I’m reading about the work my character will be doing and the setting he’ll be doing it in, it’s still writing time. Right? I’m making progress on my story. Right?
Wrong.
I love opening my resource book and scribbling notes from it in my journal, or scribbling in the margin if the book is mine. I print articles and file them in cheerful folders for highlighting and more margin scribbling later. And I learn so much, too!
Did you know that a medieval scribe might have to sharpen his or her quills sixty times during a day’s work? (Yes there were female scribes and illuminators, too.) Did you know that pages in today’s books are rectangular because the parchment that was used in most of the pre-Gutenberg books was cut that way because of the shape of the animal’s skin from which the pages were made?
All very useful information, but it’s not helping my story get written. Why the procrastination? Simple answer: because I know how hard the writing will be. I know that what’s ahead will be a slow and often dissatisfying process, and yeah, I find launching a new project scary, too. What a wuss!
I like to think of myself as a writer, so enough whining, reflection, justification, procrastination, whatever you want to call it. Time to ‘writer-up’ and get to work. I have an appointment with my treadmill desk this afternoon. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
Do you procrastinate? What lures you away from the blank page? What helps you get the writing done?
When I first wanted to write, I thought I would be a writer who curled up in a small cabin on a hillside somewhere with a view of the ocean and churned out page after page of great mystery novels with
An ebook in my future?
a border collie tucked around my feet. That was when I did more thinking about being a writer, than actually doing the work. Later, I was the 5 am writer, typing on my first laptop (MS DOS and 5 1/4 inch floppies) and dreaming of Chinese dragons and medieval castles (not together). I wanted to write a novel, and I did that–a couple of times. Will they ever be published by a traditional publisher? No. I wanted to have my novel reviewed by a national newspaper. Nope that’s not going to happen, nor is the book tour, or the interview on CBC radio. Fifteen years ago that was how I defined “writer.” Once those things happened, I would be a real writer.
My definition has changed. It’s about having an audience for my writing, and frankly, having a cheque in my hand at the end of a project. I like that someone thinks that my writing is worth paying for because they believe that what I’ve written will affect their audience in a positive way. That audience could be children in Canada reading their Kayak magazines or children in Korea learning English and reading a Sherlock Holmes story that I wrote just for them. They could also be people with questions about Canadian law or who want to know more about wind turbines, cosmetic surgery or golf courses in Bruce County.
Freelancing has given me the opportunity to talk to people that I never would have met otherwise. I’ve been able to interview lawyers across Canada about their specialized areas of law. I’ve talked to paediatricians about their presentations at a national conference. For a local magazine, I’ve interviewed orchid growers and representatives from three “unsung” local charities. My latest job enabled me to talk to doctors whose research, past and future, is the backbone of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Freelancing has made me a researcher, too. I had to read a book–in French!–to write about Canadian forensics pioneer Wilfrid Derome, and have researched everything from les filles du roi, to Lower Fort Garry and the Mounties, to the voyageurs, to Nellie McClung, to the first Canadian female war correspondent, to a 120 foot long quilt with a square for every country in the world and all of Canada’s First Nations.
My definition of “writer” isn’t about the novel anymore. Freelancing satisfies the Curious George part of me. I love to learn new things. It satisfies the creative part of me. I’m always on a quest for the right word or phrase, the right slant on the topic, the right way to capture my subject’s voice. It satisfies the writer in me. And that makes me happy.
What’s the definition of “writer” that frames your writing life? Has it changed since you first began to write?
