I heard something the other day that struck a chord with me. I had to do with writer’s block. Now I’m not altogether sure I believe there is such a thing. I’ve never experienced it. Finding the motivation to sit at my desk and write something, now that’s a thing. Most often while I write my Mike Mason books I have no idea what I want to write, where the characters are going, or how they’re going to get there. That is why I don’t sit down and just write. But, I heard some author talking about writing and how he also doesn’t feel like sitting down because he doesn’t know what to write. He said, write about what makes you angry.
What am I angry about?
I really don’t have anything to be angry about. But, I do get angry. Mostly I get annoyed with myself when I don’t sit down and write. It’s an undisciplined attitude that doesn’t affect anything else in my life. Going to the gym is easy. Doing my martial arts training in the basement that’s easy. Reading, cooking dinner, whatever, it’s all easy to do. But, for whatever reason sitting at my desk in front of my computer or Ipad and writing is a real trail sometimes. I’ve tried to set schedules to sit down and write, and that works for a time. But, then accountability becomes an issue. I am accountable to no one but myself.
Who’s accountable?
As you know if you’re not accountable to anyone the incentive is a little less strong to accomplish whatever it is that you want to get done. So, I’ve set up a schedule to sit down and write Monday through Friday. I’ll write at a minimum 1,000 words a day five days a week. But, the schedule isn’t enough so I will use my you, my audience, to motivate me to make sure I am fulfilling my responsibility to finish each days writing and each book. You have my pledge to write Monday through Friday a minimum of 1,000 words a day. One thousand words, it doesn’t seem like much but when you sit down sometimes you have to struggle to get them out.
Word Count Struggle
As I mentioned earlier, I typically don’t know what I ‘m going to write when I sit down. Sometimes the words flow out of me. Everything makes perfect sense, I see character dialogue long before it’s happening in the story or the characters are speaking at a rate way to fast and far ahead then I can write it. That’s when you know you’ve got something. I don’t know if I’d call it a flow state, but maybe it is. 1,000 words feel like a breeze and you can keep going for hours. Those are good days. Then there are other days. Days when you stare at the computer screen and wait, and wait, and wait. Inspiration where are you today? Yesterday was awesome. Why can’t I think of anything to say? Those are the days that it isn’t fun to be at the computer. Those are the days I need to get angry. Write what you’re angry about, maybe, or write the words because you’re angry. You have to write something. Sit there and write something.
Punch Those Keys
That’s what I do now. I don’t get up. I don’t go get a drink. I don’t do anything but let my fingers do the talking. The only way to get better at anything is to practice so I sit there and practice. If I can’t come up with a storyline or character dialogue, or world-building, then I just fake it. I put the words down because it doesn’t matter. It truly does not matter on the first draft. As Ernest Hemingway said about first drafts, they’re all shit. So I write angry and get those words to come out of me. They may not be the best sentences but they are written down. I’ll come back later and edit them. But, more importantly for me is, when I do start writing, my fingers thumping the keys, that is usually when ideas start to occur to me. I had no idea where Mike Mason would be at the end of “Rock of Authority”. I’d been trying to figure it out for weeks, then one day sitting in front of the computer one thing happened, I wrote about one little thing, and then everything exploded around that concept and the ending was in my head and I couldn’t get it down fast enough.
I Struggled
If I’d sat down every day and worked on it I probably would have come up with my ending sooner. Much sooner. It was a lesson that I didn’t learn well enough. But, now I do have the motivation to sit down and do it. You may not feel it or be aware of it. But you are the one who is getting me behind the desk and writing my next book as well as editing the current one. The ideas for the next book, Tentative name, Beyond Patriots and Traitors, are flowing slowly with four chapters in. But I can see in broad strokes where the next four or so chapters are going. I see Mike, Julia, and Cap, a new character on their way to Hong Kong. While at the same time Tom and Dewey, another new character are on their way back to Afghanistan. Good times will ensue for all.
So thank you all. I have the stories locked up in my head, but you are the ones who are releasing them on the page.