“Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds.”
--Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
If I’m honest (and I always am, except when I only pretend
to be), another reason I’ve been down on myself lately has been the lack of
results with my writing. While I’ve had
many things throw me off my stride lately, from illness to jury duty to
familial visits, the bottom line is that I haven’t been making progress on my
dragon novel. As much as I itched to
write something else, I told myself this year that I wouldn’t start a new story
until I had finished the old one. Yet
somehow, I ended up plowing most of my creative energies into blog posts, and devoting
less and less to revising, editing, and finishing my novel.
Creation is the fun part of the process. I may wrack my brain to create my way forward
each day, but when I finish that rough draft, I also recognize that more work
in needed. I suppose that’s the
difference between a dilettante and a professional: the professional finishes
what he sets out to achieve. He
perseveres through the drudgery, and pushes past the tedium. Only then can his work be revealed as the
ultimate culmination of his efforts.
And yet, an author writes.
An author creates. An author
invents. Or, I think, a little part of
him dies. I think that’s also part of what's been bothering me lately, aside from my lack of results. And so, this week, I’ve assigned myself a new
goal: to start off the day by writing a page of a new novel. There’s an idea that’s been kicking around in
the back of my mind. I wrote up an
outline for it a couple years ago (and revised it!), before setting it aside to
concentrate on another story. I haven’t
found that outline yet, so I’m starting with the basic concept, and pushing my
way forward. I had several interruptions
to my schedule today, but I still wrote a page of my new story, practiced the
piano, and wrote this post. In the
coming weeks, I want to build upon this new model, to write at least a page of
my new novel in the morning, and then spend time each day revising my dragon
novel. I know that I’m dedicated to my writing,
even if I’m not always as disciplined as I should be. This is an attempt to restructure my
priorities so that I accomplish them.
Hopefully, this new plan will help.
At the very least, they say that change is good for the
soul, don’t they? And I do feel good
about my new direction, so that’s something, I suppose.
Tomorrow, if I can, I’ll talk about one of the
novels I’ve read lately. I’d enjoy
that. Hopefully, you will too.
Dragon Dave
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