Joseph Ashira Kohle wrote:

       "I just can't find a fun way to write."
       She was quiet for a second and then said with a very straight face.
"Writing is almost never fun. In most cases you're writing for a boss or a
deadline or to get a paycheck. Even if the subject is not fun, you've
gotta write
it, just like you ahve to write your school essays or fail."
       "But what if I'm not in the mood?"
       "Mood has nothing to do with writing. A writer who only writes
when he i
in the 'mood' is nt serious about his writtng. It's a hobby, a pastime
that will
fade and disappear after a short while. Writing's like a sport. You don't
go to
practice when you're int eh mood, especially if you want to get good. You push
yourself everyday and try and overcome your problems. It's torturous, but
it can
be very rewarding.
       Few people can sit down and just begin writting and have an
eloquent story
unfold on the paper. Eloquence comes from hard work and perseverance. To write
well you have to be able to put yourself on a rack and turn it until
you've pulled
bone from its socket and ripped apart your muscles and tendons. And once
you do
that, just keep on cranking."

Bulls-eye. I used to write only whenever "the mood" struck me, but while it
was fun and sometimes I came up with something I thought was worth keeping,
I rarely finished anything.

Writing, IMHO, is about following through. It's easy to start once you have
a plot or outline, but following through is the hardest part. I agree with
Joseph, that it's important to write every day, even when you don't feel
like it. I often sit down and look at what I've got written so far and feel
completely unmotivated, but I read what I have and pick away at it or haul
out whatever "napkin notes" I have made and update my outline.  Any
progress is better than none.


<Excellent analogy snipped>

       It's not about mood or listening to music, although those can help
with
the creative juices. Writing is an all out fist fight with your
imagination and
intellect in the trenches of your mind. You've gotta stick in the fight
and beat
everything into submission. Then you can let the words flow, and you won't
need >to be in the mood, you won't have to prepare yourself. Why? Because
you've
already started the ball rolling, and as long as it keeps rolling, it
won't stop.

Discipline. The dreaded "D" word. But like anything that we do that
requires skill, the more we do it the better we get. There really aren't
any words to make the task easier and there really aren't any magic tricks
or formulas to make writing less "work like". Just do it, and when you
finish what you started, you will get to the "real" fun of writing :)

       It took me seventeen years to find that out, three to accept it,
and it's
going to take years to win, but at least I've started the ball rolling.
Can you?

One of the wonderful things about writing: it doesn't care how old you are :)

Panda

"BG Cross"
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