You Have To Be Like Joey
We open with a scene from Friends…
CHANDLER: I kinda, had an incident
JOEY: Don’t worry about that man, that happens.
CHANDLER: It happened to you?
JOEY: Yeah, once
CHANDLER: What did you do?
JOEY: I did it anyway…
End scene. (edited for content. 😉 )
Well, I’m actually talking about writing. But that was what I thought of when I was thinking of this post. Sometimes, we have to be like Joey. Things may not be coming together, so to speak, but when the work has to get done, it has to get done.
That means we can’t always wait around for the mood. Or the muse. That means…*gasp* discipline. I had a hard time coming down from my sheikh story. It was an extremely emotional experience to write that book. My characters were tortured, and I felt like I was right there with them. And moving on was…well, it was really hard. My heart was still with my Sheikh and his Princess and….I wasn’t ready to see other people! But, there are these things called deadlines, and they said, it was time to see other people.
And that meant having some days where I just didn’t feel in it. I love writing, don’t get me wrong. I would rather write than do almost anything else, barring spending time with my husband and kids of course. But, shopping or writing? Writing. Party or writing? Writing. You get the idea.
I’m not saying you can’t take breaks, or days off, but what I am saying is that, inspiration isn’t always going to be there, bright and shiny. And we can’t always afford to wait for it. Sometimes you have to sit and find your own while the muse is off doing her own fickle thing. I’ve said a few times that I took my muse and chained her up under the porch because I can’t let her dictate when I’m productive or not.
That, I think is part of writing being a job. Just like other jobs, some days you don’t want to clock in. But, just like other jobs, you do it anyway.
Now, those days where I sit and force myself to work are not as productive as the days when I’m dying to get my fingers on the keys and let the story just flow forth, but the tough days have been instrumental in my growth as a writer. I’ve learned to write every day (except Sundays, generally), I’ve learned to turn the inspiration on when it’s convenient, because it’s become more of a learned discipline now than something intangible and hard to grasp.
Writing, like anything else, takes practice, and that practice doesn’t come from reading books, or even reading blogs (except mine…mine is magic…always read it. LOL). The practice is in the doing, the real valuable learning is in the doing.
So do! Even if you don’t feel like it. 😉 I managed to muscle through my little slump and find some real love for The Land Stud, who I’m expecting revisions for any day now.
But at the moment, I’m working on an idea with a very sexy Russian hero. And here is some of my inspiration:
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Gulp, two of my favourite subjects, well 3 if you count the writing – Friends, Dancing and Writing. Fab post, chica. Found myself nodding throughout, lol. And thanks for the clip. seen it twice, off to watch again!
Yup, discipline (don’t say it too loud, Jilly might hear!). I write every day and I have to say that for me, switching off is harder. Though I do go through slumps every now and then. Like now. When I get over the slump though, all I want to do is write which is quite hard for the poor fandamily. But when I want to write, I can’t concentrate on anything else and I get SO grumpy if I can’t. Lately I’ve tried to be good and be sociable over the weekends albeit reluctantly. Hehe. Problem is, my process is my process, man! 😉
Always a thought-provoking and usually timely post as usual 🙂 I’m sitting here tonight after a long-day teaching and am aiming for 500 words. The muse has gone to bed and left me but I’m plodding on 🙂
Yay for a Friends reference. Let us all try to be like Joey! Great post 🙂
Try to write everyday though work tends to get in the road. And do you ever have those days when you sit down and you do EVERYTHING else but write? Like add a little research to a spreadsheet, make a list of books you need to get, check a few facts for your story..ANYTHING but write?? That tends to be me!
Maya, three of my favorite things too! *still swooning over the video* and So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows, and Pasha is on all season as a pro! Happy me! And of course, I own all ten seasons of Freidns. 😉 Joey might have some good life advice, but JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD!!!
Ahem.
Jackie, you’re more like me. I want to write all the time, and when I can’t, when it isn’t flowing I tend to get cranky and unsettled because I love it so much when I can sit and just tell the story to myself! LOL.
Rach, good for you! It’s not easy all the time, but I find that with writers, follow through is one of the biggest things that holds very talented people back. They need that discipline to go with the talent. So when you can marry the two, even when it’s a struggle, I think that’s the key right there!
Meika, thank you, I’m glad you like Joey. I know I do. 😉
Susan, I absolutely have those days. I check my email, I play on twitter, I read failblog, I collect pictures of locations, I check my email more, and then facebook…and then…and then I tell my husband to unplug the wireless modem so I can get some work done!
Ahhh I miss Friends. I could quote it in my sleep. I still get a laugh out of it no matter how many times I see it. Great post.
Yeah! I can quote far more than I should. For Christmas one year Haven got me Friends Scene it. I RULE THAT GAME!!!
Although, it’s funny how Chandler’s mom was a vampy romance novelist. I believe her advice to Rachel was throw in half a dozen euphemisms for male genitalia and you’ve got it.