Writing within the zone
by phill
I was stumbling again today, as one does when confined to home by a cold, and came across this quote by Joyce Carol Oates concerning the act of getting ‘in the mood’ for writing:
“One must be pitiless about this matter of ‘mood.’ In a sense, the writing will create the mood. …I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing seemed worth enduring for another five minutes…and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.”
One of the most frequent excuses I use in life, and I’m sure I’m not the only one here, is not participating in something because I don’t feel like it. I’m not sure what I feel like, but I don’t feel like that. Where that can include going to a party, exercising, writing, dinner, insert your activity here.
I think that quote is an interesting one, in that it in my case it applies outside the writing activity it addresses. I can think of at least a dozen times I’ve sat down before a meetup with friends, thinking “I really can’t be arsed doing this, it’s going to be three hours of small talk, I’m tired, etc.” But when I do convince myself to go out, it turns out to be a really great night.
I’m not sure why, but I never really learn from this. Every time I’m invited to come out by a group of friends–either to dinner, or drinks, or a party, or sports, or a day in the city–I still have thoughts along the lines of just forsaking the exercise and watching reruns of shows on my computer, or playing a video game. I’m terrible at moving outside my sphere of comfort.
Anyway, so moving back to the writing thing. I got to thinking that perhaps this might be a contributing factor to why I haven’t really been writing so much lately. I load up my Google Docs, look at the titles staring back at me and an overwhelming ‘meh’ resounds in my head. Usually I go and play a video game or sit in front of the teevee (even more tempting now there’s always olympic sport on at the moment). Point being, I don’t even give myself a chance to get in ‘the zone’.
Since reading that quote, I sat down and forced myself to open up an old uncompleted story and start finishing it off. Lo and behold, I eventually found myself right in there, and managed to kick off just under 1,000 words. Now, I didn’t really particularly feel like writing when I opened it. What I really wanted to do was go play Wii Fit on Louise’s stupendously large teevee. But I ended up really getting inside there, and it was only when my stomach started growling for lunch that I finished up.
So, a small lesson to take away. Give yourself a chance before you walk away and do something mindless. Not saying this will solve all your problems of motivation, but it’s something to keep in mind anyway.
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Comments
So people shouldn’t invite you out, thats what your saying? ;)
Congrats on a successful burst of verbiage, Phill, and consider this a digital “get well soon” card, complete with hokey, sad-faced cartoon animal.
The exact opposite, in fact (:
Cheers mate, I’m back at uni out of necessity today, but still feeling a lot better (:
Fuckin right it makes things better. That old “I’ve got a headache” excuse is for housewives who’d rather fuck a flashlight. Tell that to your muse long enough and she’ll up and dump your ass. You love writing, don’t you? Then you sit down and do it. Done? Good. Now do it again.