...and I am chickening out about the whole NaNoWriMo thing. My guy asked me in the car yesterday where (and when) I was planning to take my 'writing sabbatical' this year. And I had no reply. I knew it was coming... I thought I'd like nothing more than another mini-retreat to just marinate in aloneness to prepare for the Month of Speed Novel Writing.
Last year, in the final weekend of October, in preparation for the NaNo, I went and stayed in a little cabin in Ruidoso, NM. It was a productive two days... I made little meals for myself, walked freely around in the (at that time of year) mostly deserted resort town and wrote, wrote, wrote.
But...the thing is, one of my favorite things in trying to cultivate a writing life, is that I like to sabotage myself. (Oh, yes -- right after the 'brown paper packages tied up with string,' is the 'self-sabotage' verse of that song.)
I'm struggling just to get stuff into this blog...to get through a book I'm reading with writing exercises in it...to finish a longer-than-War-and-Peace fic that's been going on since '06... and to try and write something, you know... original... Plus, guitar practice every day, and keeping up with the ever present housework.
Writing, unfortunately, takes a back seat to all the housework. Because housework is unrelenting; because if I don't sit on that proverbial lid and try to at least keep it level it topples over and takes over; because a clean house makes me feel useful; because I want to run away from writing so I won't fail... (oh, hay thar, real excuse!)
Plus, you know, there is a lot of stuff to watch on youtube.
Here's the thing. This book I'm reading, it's called Page after Page [not to be confused with that book by that perky chick who hosted (hosts? I heard she's back...) Trading Spaces] and that book -- if you're prone to self-sabotage or writer's block or any of the myriad of psychic afflictions to which writers are susceptible -- is painful. The author, Heather Sellers, asks incredibly thought-provoking questions (read: self-inflicted mental colonoscopy) of the Writer Inside You. She makes you, in short, examine whether or not you truly, deeply, madly want to write.
And I'm not sure my answer is ...yes. Because if I truly, deeply, madly wanted it, wouldn't I be doing it?
So, yeah... November fast approaches, and I'm running for my life.
Take me with you! Loan me that book by the way...and I will read it while you drive and if we both decide the answer is "no, we are not truly wannabe writers" then we can switch and I'll do the Thelma & Louise header off a cliff!
ReplyDeleteYou get a writing sabbatical? (god bless your guy...mine doesn't have a clue!) I want a writing sabbatical! And a writing partner who's not intrusive, is smart, is engaging, and into her own thing....hmmmmm.
Gas is expensive....I'm not a pain in the ass I don't think...and neither are you....hmmm! That settles it! I'm going to go with you! Now, quit gnashing your teeth and second guessing it! (and forget the whole Thelma & Louise tag!) LOL! Would be fun though woulnd't it? But also, sometimes it's just good to get off all by your lonesome....I know!
I'm thinking about renting a small office downtown for a writer's retreat! (cheap cheap! close to the library!) Couldn't really justify it until I something out there for sale until DJ said, "hmmm, maybe we could take turns!" Great idea. A shared office space (cheap, I pay! ergo...I get dibs!) But a nice quiet getaway whereby you are FORCED to write...it's mandatory...what do you think?
Wow -- I think that's a great idea! A writing office... It wouldn't have to be much -- just a desk, a chair and something on which to play music.
ReplyDeleteI have a great guy, Robin, I know I do -- and I'm not prone to taking him for granted. He *is* supportive. But with a writing office, Dan wouldn't *have* to get it. You'd just say, "I'm going in to the office, I'll be back at________. Love you, bye!"
Come on -- instead of a sabbatical, We'll call it a retreat. ;-)