SoWD Weekly Motivational Post: Stop, Drop ... and Sneeze!

[dawn_felagund]

"A book is a sneeze."
-E.B. White

When asked why he wrote Charlotte's Web, author E.B. White replied with the metaphor above. I love this metaphor and think it will make sense to more than a few others participating in this year's Season of Writing Dangerously. A sneeze is spontaneous, it feels really good, it clears your head, and it can get messy, just like the stories we write and the art we create. It is involuntary too--it's not like you can make yourself sneeze, and I suspect quite a few of us would say the same of our writing and art. It's not like you can force yourself into the right mode to do your best creative work.

But a lot of us try to do just that and eventually learn to trudge through stories that no longer inspire us or ideas long gone stale in order to get them done. As we head into the second half of Season of Writing Dangerously, I know quite a few of us are doing less sneezing than we are trudging.

But this week, I want to encourage our participants to try to recapture a little of that involuntary spontaneity that often marks the beginning of a new project. Stop. Drop what you're doing. And sneeze--or, put more plainly, work on your SoWD projects.

Now many of you will raise the point that it is a really bad time right this second ... fair enough. A sneeze is a quick action. Work for five minutes, write 20 words, edit a paragraph, post that story you've been putting off ... or if it's not so bad a time, pledge to stop surfing the Internet *stern look at self* and dedicate yourself to your project for the next hour. Or more. Perhaps without planning, dreading, and working up to making progress on our projects--by just sneezing--we will recapture some of the spontaneity that makes the first steps on a new piece so enjoyable.

As always, these motivational posts are for free use by SoWD participants. Feel free to share your progress, bemoan your struggles, or ask for help from your fellow participants. Now I have an hour-and-a-half and feel a sneeze coming on :)

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Very well said.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! And I was worried that everyone would read the metaphor and go, "Ewwww ..." :D

[periantari.livejournal.com]

Awesome motivation

[dawn_felagund]

Yay! I'm glad you liked it. :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I've actually been coming down with a cold... AND been madly productive last week. Hadn't associated the writing process with the sneezing, though! ;)

I've actually achieved the goals I've set myself for this SoWD (except for one story, but as I can't post that before late September, I'm not in a hurry there) - two new chapters for TTS (+ one chapter for Golden Days that I hadn't even planned on!), two B2MeM leftovers finished and posted, another WiP in the works (that's the one that's got to wait until September anyway), the Meneltarma dress is nearing completion...

However, I have neglected my beta-ing duties while "sneezing", so I have to catch up with those first. Afterwards, for the rest of the Season, I'm not going to set myself any new goals except "produce something". Whether that "something" is artwork, or chapters for my WiPs, or new stories - it's all fine. Whatever the heck tickles my nose, so to say. I'll see if that free-style approach works for me, or whether I should return to setting myself more specific goals...

Anyway - ACHOOO! ;)

[dawn_felagund]

Wow! Congratulations on meeting your goals! That's awesome. :)

Writing = sneezing would never have occurred to me. But I read the E.B. White quote on a blog completely unrelated to Tolkien or writing and thought, "OMG. It's so true and perfect for a motivational post!" I am not coming down with a cold but I am constantly sneezing due to allergies, and my summer has been pretty productive, so maybe there is something to it ...? :D

I hope that the cold goes away soon. Summer colds are the worst! *sends chickenless noodle soup and the cuddly Noldo of your choice*

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

Still writing. I am going slowly because I have to finish other two fics (and because a couple of muses won't stay quiet), but I'll manage. (g)

[dawn_felagund]

Ugh. Muses! I was swimming this afternoon and "writing" in my head while I did, and my chatty muses kept making me forget the number of laps I'd done. (Luckily, I was swimming with my husband, and he was doing the same number as I was, so I could ask him.) Good luck with the rest of your goal! :)

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

(grin) They just show up and distract you, don't they?

Thanks! I will finish it, even if I have to gag the rest of my muses. I could also lock them in their rooms in pairs, but then they'd have more ideas for new fics featuring them.

[dawn_felagund]

LOL! True that! :D

[ysilme]

*g* I'm also forever "headwriting" when swimming. I've given up counting laps by now and just swim a given time which more or less covers my lap count.

[dawn_felagund]

I'm thinking of doing the same! :D The relative silence, the rhythm of swimming ... it's very meditative. The muses enjoy it quite a bit. :)

[ysilme]

Who knows - perhaps muses are mermaids? ;o)

[dawn_felagund]

Elves are supposed to like water! :D

[ladybrooke]

I've accomplished almost nothing. :P

Part of the problem is that my hands, wrists, etc are still acting up (and somehow my right arm is now swollen in one part. It started off hurting on the bone a few days ago, and now it's puffy. -_-) The only bright side is that I might be getting a new computer soonish with an actual keyboard, instead of a laptop. Hopefully less pain than typing on this is...

I'm going to accomplish the current Fan-Flashworks prompt though, if it kills me (then I'll probably slack off and read sewing blogs or write original fic, because I'm bad at staying focused on one creative outlet).

[dawn_felagund]

I am so sorry to hear about your continued pain. I think you know that I struggle with inflammation and pain too (the knuckles on my left hand are perpetually swollen to look like I routinely punch walls or hard-headed people--I swear I don't! :), so I totally empathize with how hard it is to get things done when the most basic tasks hurt to do.

We do allow goals to be revised up or down, though, for precisely this reason. There's no shame in that, and as I recall you mentioning in another post, you have the start of school to think of too.

Good luck on the Fan-Flashworks prompt. I'm sending good mojo your way! And Elves! Lots of Elves! :) *hugs*

[ladybrooke]

Thank you. (Lol! I'm not sure anyone could ever think you do punch people on a regular basis. You're too nice to do that). It's so hard. In some ways I wish mine was more visible. It's hard to get people to believe that I'm in pain or sick, when I look perfectly fine (then I end up in arguments over it).

I might end up revising them, depending on how things go. I think that after recent issues with my feelings of privacy versus what is apparently expected for writers on deviantArt/the real world, I might have more free time soon to write. School is going to be the deciding factor though.

Thank you! Elves are always good and provoking. :D *hugs*

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

This is a really good post, and I agree. Forcing writing when there is no inspiration is like trying to blow your nose when you've got a cold and have already blown it repeatedly to no avail - you plod away and it hurts and you hate it and get nowhere and the result is unsatisfying.

This, incidentally, is why I haven't written basically anything in about 5 years. No inspiration, no urge. I seem to have failed to catch the right...plot-flu? Um...stretching the metaphor a bit too far there, but you get my drift. I refuse to push fic - it's why I've never participated in fic exchanges where I've been writing on a theme not of my choosing with time pressure - because for me at least, the day it feels like a chore is the day I shouldn't be doing it at all.

I occasionally get brief urges to write at times that are impossible, like when I'm at work or in the cinema or on a train with no writing materials, but then when the actual opportunity arises, I'm dry. I did get a useful coincidence of inspiration and time/materials recently and basically sketched out the outline for an original-fic novel, but it's been dormant since, unfortunately. Am hoping the conference next week will have a couple of really boring talks so I can sneakily write about wizards whilst they're talking about something waaay outside my field that I wouldn't understand or appreciate if I tried!!

I will see if I can tickle some manner of sneeze out soonish. I'd like that. It's been too long.

[dawn_felagund]

Eni! Do you know how excited I was to see a comment from you in my inbox?? :D

As someone who adores your writing, I'm sorry the inspiration hasn't been there, but I totally understand the "not forcing it" bit. I have taught myself to write because I have to, and it can sometimes actually end up being something that I want to do. But not always, and that is just drudgery.

I'm thrilled that you're getting flashes of inspiration, even if in the wrong place and time! Are you still working with bees? (I ask because I started keeping honeybees two years ago.)

It's great to hear from you, and good luck at the conference and with the finnicky muses. :)

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I've really missed your writing. Think this might be the first time I've ever wished someone a humongous dose of flu.

[dawn_felagund]

I'm doing pretty well on my goals.

-Take stock of what I have archived at the SWG and add at least half of what's missing. I decided to add all of the missing short stories/novellas, which was about 20 total. Word-count-wise, this is well over half of the stuff that's missing. I can then survey and add the missing ficlets later. I have six stories left to add.

-Archive at least 10 stories with AO3. I've archived eight so far. Once I finish the stories for the next goal and add them to AO3, I'll have my goal and then some. :)

-Write five short stories (3,000+ words each). I've written and posted two. The third decided to be a novella and is still in progress. So I'm about halfway there.

-Write an essay on Tolkien's cosmogony and submit a proposal for the Mythguard Institute conference in December. The proposal was submitted yesterday; I need to finish the essay.

I did indeed sneeze last night: I worked on a story for about an hour. I was drinking mead at the same time, and I started to get a little groggy after about an hour and had to call it quits.

[ysilme]

I'm doing pretty well on my goals.
*\O/* I'm in total awe of the amount you planned and have already done.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! The novella will be done tonight, putting me just a little bit closer ... *collapses* :D

[lin4gondor.livejournal.com]

I've been traveling for the last 15 days and had no chance to even think about fic, let alone work on it! This is good advice for me at this point, however, because I need a kick start to get back into it now that I'm home. So I'm going to try this!

That said, I'm planning my sneeze for later this afternoon/evening because I am halfway out the door right now and will be gone a few hours. I know it's not as spontaneous as it should be, but I want a to give my sneeze a chance to develop into something more catching if it wants! ;-)

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Yah! Now I feel that I can post here. I finished editing a novella of a dear friend. 39 pages, 144 comments and Eru knows how many suggestions.. but she is on time to post her story for SinS. I just couldn't continue with mine until I had taken care of it... and that story is a different tale. I just wish that my main character would make up its mind about things *sigh*

[ysilme]

Congrats! :o)

[j-flattermann.livejournal.com]

To all of you who are striving to reach their goal, here is this weeks encouragement doodle.
http://j-flattermann.livejournal.com/366546.html

[ysilme]

This is a fascinating motivation idea! I actually sat down and wrote 2600 words straight - just not for any of my SOWD projects. *g* But in fact a similar process is what I'm trying to "force" myself to regularly, and which works more and more easily each time I do it: when I feel like it, just sitting down and doing it, no matter what, and how long. I have learnt or rather trained myself by sheer force to be able to write when I plan to. This helps with getting over all kinds of imagined and real hindrances, but often enough it's not the creative output I would have liked to get, and rather serves as a basic structure which I then can work over at leisure. But it seems to produce more and more "sneezing" moments.
Actually, when I just opened the comment window to write this, I wrote two more drabbles instead.

[dawn_felagund]

When I came up with this idea, I figured people would either love it, ignore it, or throw vegetables at me. 2600 words is awesome, no matter the project! And then to follow up with two more drabbles ... wow. I'm glad it worked for you. :)

I am much the same. I wrote for a year freelance as my profession, I'm a Humanities grad student, and I write creatively. I have learned to force myself to write productively as a result; I remember being younger and having to wait for the inspiration to come. This summer, I've been increasingly trying to "sneeze" more and just jump into a story while sitting around when I'd usually just surf the web or otherwise waste time, and it's been nice to see where that goes sometimes.

[ysilme]

I'm going to make the "sneezing" a basic writing staple, it has so many merits. Particularly when this "wasting time in surfing the net" is concerned... *ahem* Don't I know that so well.
I just did it again yesterday - caught a small plot bunny, and instead of filing it in two, three descriptive sentences in the large "plotbunny pool" as I used to, I sat down and wrote the whole exposé of the vignette it's going to become. Participating at SOWD already has done much for me, writing-wise; I'm so glad I signed up!

[dawn_felagund]

Yay! \0/ It makes me really happy to hear that. :D

I am hoping that the habit of writing again will be ongoing for me too, but I see grad school looming on the horizon so ... *sigh*