Monday, February 2, 2009

Sorry


I know...I'm behind on my writings. This blog business involves more effort than I bargained for...

I feel I need more organization in my life. Maybe writing out the day's schedule on a big eraser board...a carefully constructed grid that maps out my life to the exact minute.. There it is: 9 to 9:30--WRITE BLOG

But then I wonder whether humans are too structured sometimes. The days of doing things off the cuff seem a fanciful part of a now antiquated lifestyle. Who just gets up and goes any more? Especially those of us with families and approaching a certain age. I watch people in movies decide suddenly to fly to California or drive to the shore or even pop out for an after work drink, and I say to myself, "what kind of fantasyland is this?" I have family to meet, things to accomplish, blogs to write. No time for such spontaneity. These things must be planned out, man.

I look at my fictitious schedule on my fictitious eraser board and wonder if Steinbeck or Hemingway or Bill Shakespeare or even Sidney Sheldon actually made a conscious effort to set aside time for writing. You write when you feel it. And I guess that is how I will approach this blog. So we'll see you in April.

Just joshing...I can pencil you in a week from Thursday.

7 comments:

  1. Bill, we'll take your literary bon mots whenever they flow from your transom to ours.

    But a week from Thursday is lousy for me. How 'bout the following Tuesday at 6:45am? Mmmkay.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well worth waiting for. Just please don't make us wait so long next time.

    For the record, I think most successful authors don't wait for the muse to show up. Stephen King, for example, writes 10 pages a day, even on holidays. And look how well he's done for himself.

    It's funny you should bring this up, because as a freelance writer, I do have the ability to la-di-da through my days, as long as I hit those deadlines. But I've just recently begun creating an hour-by-hour schedule for myself to ensure I don't while away my productivity on Facebook or, um, commenting on other people's blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think of writing as a treat I selfishly five myself at the end of each day. Like dessert. I don't think first, I just dive in and my fingers know what to do. If I thought of it as another task on my calendar I'd delete the whole thing. Does that help?

    ReplyDelete
  4. tell me about it - i so envy those with no schedule...those that can do this, go there, make a unexpected stop, etc...my life - tic toc, no dilly dallying - gotta keep the wheels turning! but it's all worth it...one day (once the kiddos r out on their own), my hubby & i will get 2 slow down...take our time just being...& not so much doing!

    keep blogging bill - don't give up quite yet!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A week Thursady works for me. No hang on, Oh look a hospital apointment for Jamie, now there's a suprise!!
    I know what you mean though. I went off line over the weekend, came back and everyone had gone off without me and there was loads to catch up on.
    Not that anyone over here is doing much of anything this week. The country had ground to a halt because of the snow. Still lots more blogging time!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do take time to be spontaneous once in a great while, its good for the psche!

    ReplyDelete