From late August to mid October I did my first major novel revision. The last two weeks of October I spent outlining and brainstorming my NaNo novel, while in November I wrote said novel. Then December came, and in a flurry I did my second full novel revision. This one, however, was much lighter than the one I undertook in August, but substantial and time-crunched nonetheless.
In the meantime, I started a new round of writing dares with a friend of mine getting back into the word-slinging gig.
(In case you are unfamiliar with the idea of a writing dare: two [or more, I suppose] people trade of sending one another ‘dares’, pictures, phrases, etc designed to spur the imagination. The recipient then has one week to write ~1,000 words or more based on the dare, and return their writing to the sender, along with a dare of their own. Good for inspiration and accountability. The inestimable Catherine Krahe introduced me to this practice.)
So I gave her a dare over Thanksgiving, which she responded to, as planned, a week later with words to read and a picture to write from.
So, like I generally do with shorts, I dove right in. I fished around for a while, exploring the setting, possible back stories for characters, endings that may or may not work. I ended up with a mish-mash of randomness that, I think, has potential. But when I sat down and tried to thread the damn thing together, to figure out where I needed to steer it, I felt something very unfamiliar.
I felt empty.
I’ve talked about the need for creative input before, and I was able to recognize exactly what had happened. I wasn’t a washed up writer. My ideas weren’t all used up. I was just spent. I’d been bleeding all over the page for about four months straight, without much rest in between, and I’d become creatively anemic. Not a great feeling, but not the end of the world, either. In fact, I’m looking at the next week, or maybe the rest of the month, as a great opportunity to get in some socializing, catch up on critiques I owe, go see some performance art, capitalize on quality reading time (I’ve been daydreaming about this book for months). Intake, intake, intake.
Along with gorging myself on art and words and people, I’m going to draft up a list/schedule of goals for next year. I’ve got a few things whirling around already, including *finally* tackling an idea I’ve been stuck on for about three years, as well as refreshing my collection of short stories. And revisions, of course. There are always revisions to be done.
So, right now I’m looking for book, movie and artist recommendations. Who do you turn to when you’re feeling tapped out? Read/seen anything amazeballs lately?
photo used under Creative Commons license from flip.01
I’ve been on a reading binge lately, too. I think for me it is partly a holdover from Christmas vacation as a kid, getting to spend all day reading was such a luxury to me then (and even more so now).
I watched The Captains recently on Netflix. It’s a documentary about Star Trek, done by Shatner. But it’s mostly about the actors who played the Captains, and they talk about the strain that a career you devote so much time to can place on your life, and how being identified for one role is both positive and negative. The Netflix descriptions says it is “affable”, and I think that’s the perfect description.
Also, I love the icebox metaphor. It isn’t the fridge, because most of the creative juice won’t be used right away.
We watched The Captains last night. How funny! I agree that it was ‘affable’. And, in parts, a bit strange. Avery Brooks is something to behold, I think, once broken from his Sisko character. I identified with a lot of what they talked about, particularly Shatner’s conversations with Stewart and Bakula. I’ve decided to forego certain things in large par because I want to focus so much on my writing.
Sad that sometimes those things are family and friends. I’m super lucky to have a host of understanding people in my life, though.
Have fun reading! Anything you’re particularly looking forward to?
I have to remember to read these days, which is sad. My life has become knitting all the time. But walking or crafting without a story along do a good amount of brain-feeding; I can’t concentrate on an entire story or scene, but I can have niblets, if that makes sense. Just enough to pick up tiny pieces, not enough to carry them far.
Also, I’m Catherine Krahe, not Cassandra. You aren’t the first to make the mistake, but you are the first I wouldn’t mind it with.
I wrote Catherine first, then convinced myself I had it wrong ><;
I've experienced that, too, with crafting. Bits and pieces will occur to me. Scene settings, a few lines of dialogue, an expression on a character's face. I need to do more crafting. I have a sadly neglected, potentially adorable, wildly out of character Simba cross stitch lounging in my craft bag.
Sarah Hirsch Folweiler Chiropractic