The run of bright sunny mornings has stopped, for now. So much easier to be inspired when the day is bright, no? No wonder they put Silicon Valley and Pixar and all of those creative industries in sunny places. Without all those lovely rays, we might have less beautiful computers and middling animated films.
I digress. What do you write about on the mornings when you don’t know what to write about?
I made a rule for myself for Facebook. When there wasn’t anything to say that I thought I could face reading again, I just wouldn’t put anything on. Fair enough. But what if you are trying to encourage yourself to keep writing in general, including for enjoyment, and then you reach an impasse?
I think the answer is probably: you keep writing.
I had a couple of notions up my sleeve, when I started this 31 days, for what to write about writing. So here’s one. The principle of 10 000 hours of practice, as mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. The notion is that it takes all this practice to become really good at something e.g. all the gig practice the Beatles had in Germany before coming to fame, learning their craft and getting better.
I haven’t read the actual book. Some like it, some find it overly simple. But it did make me stop and wonder what areas in our lives we are likely to be able to get that much practice. And it does give permission to the idea of keeping going, again and again, understanding that it takes a long time to get really good.
I also realised that much of what I want to write is actually deceptively simple stuff. It’s not the big overblown novel, it’s the jewel-like pieces I enjoy reading myself. I like novels too, but the feeling of reading a good short story: it can take your breath away.
I have spent many a year ‘hiding’ from writing from writing by myself. I’m sure I’ve counted up to 20 by now. Time to set out and look for those words – ready or not.