I’m still in head down mode until I finish Scalzi’s intro, which is due today, but I had that magical moment yesterday when I moved some things around, added a few paragraphs, then sat back in my chair and said to the empty room, “There it is! I can finally say ‘it’s coming together.'”
Once I get to this point in a project, it’s like I’ve been flailing around in a twisty maze of passages, all alike, and I’ve finally been handed a torch and a map. I never know when it’s going to happen on a particular job, but I’m always relieved when it finally does. One day before the deadline isn’t the best time for it to happen, but it’s not the blurst time, either.
This is one of the reliable steps in my writing process, like the “this sucks, I suck, everything I do sucks, I’m the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked” step*. There are other, less-amusingly-named-but-equally-reliable steps in my writing process, and even the frustrating ones give me reassurance, because I know that I’m on track. There’s being stuck, and then there’s being stuck, you know?
These steps come in random order, and the ones where I feel stuck usually last from a few hours to a few days. There isn’t a reliable trick to get through them, but knowing that there are these mile markers along the road has given me a lot more confidence as a writer.
Currently, I’m in a step I call “I really need to finish the thing, but I think I’ll write something else instead.”
Yep. Right on schedule.
*This is the step where I constantly repeat my own advice to myself: Don’t be afraid to suck. It’s easier to fix something that’s broken than it is to fill up an empty page.
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One step beyond. It’s Madness! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the pain, Wil, it’s reassuring for us lessers to know you go through it too. And best of luck!
Ah… the sweet smell of the suck stage. I know it well.
Wait… that can’t be what I meant to say, can it?
wil-
have you read ‘the war of art?’ it’s quick and easy.
…like your mom.
FACE!!!!!!
no, but really. it’s great.
Thanks. Thanks for reminding me that MTV used to play music and – joke aside – reminding me that I shouldn’t be afraid to suck.
Hee- excellent Colossal Cave reference… I laughed out loud at that. I remember playing that game on my dad’s old system back in the late 70’s early 80’s… so hilarious. That damn maze used to kill me. I can’t even imagine my kids sitting down at the computer to play a TEXT adventure game.
Kudos on the coming together of things.
And also on the cleverly placed, somewhat obscure Simpsons references. Well done!
Bit the bullet and got a typekey so I can comment!
I’ve been reading for over a year. Love the blog, Wil.
All writers go through these fun stages. Don’t we? Probably what makes us such fun people to live with sometimes.
One of my writing stages is the “I’m just gonna blog for a minute because I need a break from this project…. Oops, it hasn’t been three hours has it? How did I get on YouTube?” phase. Yeah, very productive. 🙂
I have an application essay due tomorrow for my “I never thought I could ever even apply for that, OMG that would be the best ever” job. Only a LITTLE bit of pressure.
I went through the “I suck” phase earlier in the week and am at the “It’s mostly together, take a break and get back at it” part. I’m now watching a guy in a very big excavator break up stumps in my yard.
Glad you got over the suck stage. Just think tomorrow there will be much relaxing and game playing….until the next hurdle arises.
A pleasant post, but I’m disappointed in you for missing an opportunity (rare for you) of inserting some wonderfully obscure geek/gamer reference in paragraph two.
Twisty maze of passages? Torch and map? I kept reading on for, oh I don’t know, the Zork reference, Bard’s Tale reference, BBS ASCII adventure reference, anything. But it never came. Hell, you could have even taken the ironical route and tossed in a Rona Jaffe’s Mazes and Monsters reference. Or you could have gone all modern on us and claimed that you were lost because the Overlord used Dark Charm on you.
A lost opportunity. So sad. The geek reference will have to wait for the next post, I guess.
Arg! I now have One Step Beyond stuck in my head. Especially the saxophone bit…must set ipod to Madness!
Hi Wil- 2 things…
First, a belated Happy Birthday. Sorry I missed it! I’m just a few months older than you, so I relate to much of the stuff you post. Second- because of you, I joined Twitter. I’m not all that computer savvy, and looking through the Twitter help section didn’t. Help, I mean. Can you check out my page on Twitter & post something, so I know if I’m doing it right? I’m called AliciaWag there. I don’t know anybody else on Twitter to ask… thanks!
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com (we’re opening for John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band- check out my site for details!)
So if you’ve come in off the street
And you’re beginning to feel the heat
Well listen buster
You better start to move your feet
One…Step….Beyond!
You may or may not be interested and/or amused to know that engineers go through a very similar stomach-churning emotional-roller-coaster trip when they’re implementing something new.
(“Aaaah! This sucks! I suck! This is never going to be anything more than a hideous, cheesy hack!” Followed at some later point, if the speaker has equal measures of persistence and luck, by “Hey, this is actually kind of cool. Awright.”)
Ok this is a little off topic, but you know what sucks? Fanlib is supposed to shut down today. Ok, I only wrote KvP stuff there, but there’s are tons of people out there somewhere who feel like I do, and have enjoyed reading all of the fan stories there….needless to say, that sucks.
Watch the language, Wil. You never know if your damn weiner kids are reading. 😛
Oh my! You have SO put it into words. Good luck getting that intro finished. Hopefully the break to write something else was just what you needed to finish bringing everything together.