Every writer has had times when a project runs into a brick wall. You're going along quite well, you think, then wham! You're stuck. How do I get this character out of this mess now? Or Why does this story seem to be going nowhere in a hurry? Or There's no heart in this essay, but I don't know how to fix it. Or This poem started out great and came to a big crash in the last verses.
We are writers, not magicians. We encounter problems, and often, we want to walk away rather than figure out what to do to fix the problem.
Our poster quote says "Don't start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every day is a fresh start. Each day is a new beginning. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life." It seems to fit problems writers have as mentioned above.
This is one reason why so many books on the craft of writing tell us to put a project away when we run into trouble with what we're writing. We get so involved with what we're writing that we often don't see how to fix a problem area. Walk away and start over again tomorrow, or even days later. I can almost guarantee that you'll see what you'd already written in a new light. You might see a way out, or you could realize that you can find a new way to accomplish what had become so difficult only hours or days earlier.
Sometimes, we have problems with what we're writing because we're tired or have something important on our mind. We're not giving the writing our full attention. When that happens, walk away, then go back in a day or two or three.
Every day allows us to start over again rather than work with the broken pieces of yesterday. We can scrap yesterday's work, or we can try to change it, fix it, or resurrect it. I'd vote for the latter three things rather than get so disgusted you tear up yesterday's work and throw the pieces to the four winds. It's a new day, so you can try a new way.
No comments:
Post a Comment