The Mighty Pen: On Coming Back

As the "one of the other authors", I appreciate Megan's call to come back. Have I made progress toward my goal? Hardly, unless you count two and a half pages written over the course of three days--over a month ago. That's better than a blank sheet, I suppose. That day to day life just always seems to get in the way. Even while my priorities suffered an overhaul shortly after I joined this blog I've realized that, because of my busier, less self-indulgent schedule, I need this goal more than ever. So, here are some thoughts I had several weeks ago when I started out:

I am determined to persevere, even while fighting amazement at how terrible the product is. One of the hazards of penning a story is allowing yourself to ramble. Stories are linear where unfortunately, thoughts are not. That means that every sentence you write can't just be in natural progression from the one before it; it has to be pointing toward an end, as well. Exploring derivatives can bring you to an observation you wouldn't have made before, but it can also be hard to get back to where you were going. Maybe that's why George Eliot always overdid the metaphors. I can certainly understand the fascination that many authors have with stream of consciousness. In the end I'm most likely going to have to plan out every scene, how they each lead to the next. Structure isn't only important to architecture.

The building blocks are waiting!

The Mighty Pen: Introduction

I've wanted to write since I was a preteen, and I have...a little bit. Over the years I developed a dream to author a novel, but not having the courage or foolhardiness to plunge into the struggling artist lifestyle (in addition to being interested in different things), my education and career choices haven't exactly been reflective of that dream. The most progress I've made was to take an unchallenging creative writing class in college; and start the same story about a dozen times over the last eight years, being dissatisfied with every incarnation. Even with the intention to go full steam ahead despite the awful beginning, life has always gotten in the way of pursuing the dream. That's going to change.

There are a number of goals I considered blogging about, such as getting in shape, learning to read French fluently, or dressing up in costumes just for the fun of posing. But writing is the one I need to be accountable for. One thing I will not do is provide any samples of my writing, as the horror of it is my business alone at this point. So I'm not sure what I will report, but it will be something.

The Goal: I've discovered (Thank you for the idea, Megan!) that there is a writer's group here in town. They meet on Tuesday nights which I currently have booked, but my goal is that before the year is out, I will have something I'm willing to share with others, and take the brave step to attend a group meeting and see what they know.

The Contender: A 28 year old Architecture Librarian (meaning I work at an architecture library with architectural resources, not that I design libraries), whose job is pleasant and challenging, but leaves her somewhat intellectually unfulfilled. Hence the goal.

The Plan: According to...someone (an author whose name I can't remember), one only needs to write fifteen minutes a day in order to perfect their craft. So instead of trying to allot a big block of time every week, I'll aim for the daily habit. I'll work on anything: that story that I think I may finally have figured out how to open, ideas and synopses for other stories, or creative exercises when I'm in a slump. Blogging definitely doesn't count.