Upon hearing of a friend’s plan to listen to Terry Pratchett audiobooks during all 24 hours in the car on an upcoming road trip, I flipped to the Pratchett interview in The Wand and the Word. I love this exchange with Leonard Marcus:
Q: Do you have a daily work routine?
A: I assume that what I’m doing is writing all the time–even though I’m actually doing something else. When you are stuck and you go out into the garden to pull weeds, you are still writing. Part of you is. … [W]riting isn’t just sitting in front of the keyboard, although that’s a fairly vital part of the process. You’re still being a writer when you are reading or making notes, or just enjoying yourself.
Weeding, reading, and making notes? Check, check, and check. I think I’ve just quadrupled my productivity so far this week.
This is re-affirming, as I, too, view everything as “research.” The truth is, oddball things do pop up in my stuff all the time, and I know it comes from an article I read in the paper or from a link I followed or from a walk I took to the coffee shop or… well, from anything other than sitting down and writing. The problem is in BALANCE, cuz sometimes I am waaaaay better at these other parts of writing. Not now, of course. Now I’m writing like the wind. Honest. Really. Yup.
This is re-affirming, as I, too, view everything as “research.” The truth is, oddball things do pop up in my stuff all the time, and I know it comes from an article I read in the paper or from a link I followed or from a walk I took to the coffee shop or… well, from anything other than sitting down and writing. The problem is in BALANCE, cuz sometimes I am waaaaay better at these other parts of writing. Not now, of course. Now I’m writing like the wind. Honest. Really. Yup.
This is re-affirming, as I, too, view everything as “research.” The truth is, oddball things do pop up in my stuff all the time, and I know it comes from an article I read in the paper or from a link I followed or from a walk I took to the coffee shop or… well, from anything other than sitting down and writing. The problem is in BALANCE, cuz sometimes I am waaaaay better at these other parts of writing. Not now, of course. Now I’m writing like the wind. Honest. Really. Yup.
I needed to read this quote. It’s a good reminder that so much of our writing is done behind our backs. Take last night, for example. Last night while in yoga class, I should have been concentrating on my tree pose…elongating my posture, firming up my stance, achieving balance. Instead, I spent most of the time falling over (and wishing for a notebook) as ideas for a non-fiction article appeared out of nowhere.
I needed to read this quote. It’s a good reminder that so much of our writing is done behind our backs. Take last night, for example. Last night while in yoga class, I should have been concentrating on my tree pose…elongating my posture, firming up my stance, achieving balance. Instead, I spent most of the time falling over (and wishing for a notebook) as ideas for a non-fiction article appeared out of nowhere.
I needed to read this quote. It’s a good reminder that so much of our writing is done behind our backs. Take last night, for example. Last night while in yoga class, I should have been concentrating on my tree pose…elongating my posture, firming up my stance, achieving balance. Instead, I spent most of the time falling over (and wishing for a notebook) as ideas for a non-fiction article appeared out of nowhere.
This makes me feel a whole lot better!! There was me, thinking I wasn’t working hard enough at my writing, and there you go, I was doing it the whole time!
Great news!
This makes me feel a whole lot better!! There was me, thinking I wasn’t working hard enough at my writing, and there you go, I was doing it the whole time!
Great news!
This makes me feel a whole lot better!! There was me, thinking I wasn’t working hard enough at my writing, and there you go, I was doing it the whole time!
Great news!