Monday, September 1, 2008

Why no story?

I didn't write a story this time. It's clearly getting harder for all of us to stay on top of our self-imposed deadlines. I think this is due to two reasons.

First, the novelty of the project has worn off. We're over halfway through, and we're trudging towards the end. It's no longer a fresh new idea, but an old one that we may be a bit tired of by now. It didn't make writing a habit for us, unfortunately; it remained a chore.

That brings me to my second point- we're not writers. By that, I mean we don't write on a regular basis. As much as I've wanted to, and as much as I've tried, I've never written on a set schedule. "Writer" is a profession- it's what they do. Plumbers fix pipes almost every day. Singers sing almost every day. And writers write almost every day. That doesn't mean that writing should be easy for the writer, even though words seem to flow like lava from an erupting volcano from the pens of such folks as Stephen King and the late Isaac Asimov. No, writing is a job, and like all jobs it's sometimes pleasant and sometimes unpleasant. If you only write when it's pleasant for you, then it's nothing more than a lark, not a job, and you'd be better off writing a diary than stories for other eyes. To be a writer you have to write, day or night, rain or shine, fun or not. And that's what I've not been doing. So I don't know about my fellow participants in this project, but I'm going to try to change my approach, go at this thing with renewed vigor, and finish strong.

But yeah, I missed this one.