Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I wouldn't call it writer's block, per se

I mean, that's just so darn cliche. And it's not that I can't think of anything to write, or whatever W/B technically is. It's that I can't think of a way to give form to the idea I have. I used to think, without really articulating it, that if you have an idea, you have a way to express it. Le sigh. I am learning.

Backstory: I have a story in mind, and also in a Word document, but I really hate how it's turning out, in part because I think it can be really good. In its unrealized, Platonic form, it already is really good, and I just need to find it, like the statue in the rock. But my tools are not sharp enough!

No, that's not true. "If you can see me, I am already there," says the Star to the Little Girl in the poem, the one from Chicken Soup for the Soul. A mixed metaphor but apropos: I do believe that if I have the idea, I have the capacity to actuate it; it just might not come as quickly as I'd like. I wish it was already done! I've put enough time in to the story by now. Maybe. And I'm avoiding it like the plague. I've cooked dinner TWICE this week.

I also believe, as I may have mentioned before, that I don't believe that success is only 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I don't think it helps to drudge over something you're not feeling. There may be 99% work, but there needs to be at least, I don't know, 20% inspiration, or else what you're creating isn't art, and it's not going to sound, ahem, inspired.

My point which I am reaching ever so circuitously is that maybe I need to give it a break and do something else for awhile, and then come back and put more work into this particular gem, this story, and then it will be great.

Unrelatedly, I LOVE Amnesiac; I'm even willing to opine that it's better than Kid A.

Unrelatedly #2, I miss Chimneys. I've taken a month-and-a-half break. When I get it back, will I be able to make it what I want it to be?

No comments:

Post a Comment