Tag: writing

feelings

hide and seek

abby mumford

sometimes something SO BIG comes along the desire to hide overwhelms your sense of logic.

in this case, the something so big is NaNoWriMo (NAtional NOvel WRiting MOnth) in which a novel is defined as 50K and is started on november 1 and finished on/by november 30.

yup. i signed up to write a novel in a month.

i’m considering a costume so maybe it won’t recognize me.

bubba mac yoda is.
baby mac as minnie mouse sans traditional ears.
the WA mums channeling dr. seuss

i swear this wasn’t just an excuse to show off my beyond adorable nieces and nephews. though, really, aren’t they the cutest?!? i’m not biased at all. this is the truth.

but back to my point. i’m really scared of this task, of this herculean effort, of this novel, of all these expectations (mine + others’). i’ve already started this one once and wrote 20K before i realized i needed to restart it and that brings me to what i’m doing this november.

this is manuscript #3 for me, which means i should have learned something from manuscripts 1 and 2 and those things learned should be incorporated now, but, umm, i can’t find my notes, a pop quiz today?,  THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK, TEACHER.

wow. that’s already a lot more than i tell most people about my writing because i’m (a) too much of a perfectionist where i don’t want people to see the process, just the results, (b) superstitious, (c) private, (d) awkward, (e) uncomfortable talking about myself, (f) private, (g) see aforementioned items x100. i guess i’m hoping if i put this in writing, i’ll be held accountable.

i want to be accountable.

but i’m scared.

i think it’s time to take a cue from my dear (and ridiculously talented) friend adriana.

mrs. cloud at HER harvard book store reading

perhaps i should throw on something bright so (in her case) the people at the reading focus on that instead of her (so she said); or so (in my case) i focus on the outer (getting the words out) instead of the inner (editor)?

maybe i’m grasping at straws here. maybe that analogy sounded better in my head. maybe i’m procrastinating from working on that manuscript (if you look at the date, yes, i’m two days into NaNo) because the blog is safe and the MS is uncharted territory.

okay, okay. i’m leaving. but first, tell me how YOU go about facing your fears.

let’s all be in this together!

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general

after exerciser

abby mumford

during one of the many tangents us book hungry gals get on, kelly and i were talking about exercising and how we don’t necessarily like the act of exercising, but we LOVE the endorphin rush once we’re done.

which got me thinking about writing.

(i know, i know. i’ve been thinking about writing more than i’ve actually been writing.) (wow, look at me, i’m procrastinating!) (can you believe it, mom?)

if i’m a person who gets a rush AFTER THE FACT, how am i supposed to get that from writing? i mean, there’s a lot of time involved before one reaches THE END. more time than a marathon, so how can i sustain that level of intensity without any reward?

how do YOU do it?

(tee hee)

how do you sustain a certain level of productivity when it’s nearly impossible to see the finish line?

feelings

informational interview

abby mumford

it turns out when you speak to a professional about their job, you learn something.

the last two comments (one by adriana and one by prgrmr42) are in and of themselves poetic and isn’t that the beauty of the conversation? of poetry? it speaks to us in “hints, suggestions, implications” not to mention imagery, emotions, and experiences.

i think this is what i’ve been doing “wrong” all these years. i’ve been reading poems too literally. i’ve really only studied poetry when in school, so i suppose my pavlovian response is to read to come up with an answer that’s acceptable by the teacher instead of feeling the words, drinking them in, and repeating them to see how i perceive the poem. no one else, just me. me and the words.

now that’s a duet i can get behind.

and now that i’ve been freshly enlightened, i need me some poetry to read! suggestions welcome.

writing

guest post: grandpa, round 3

abby mumford

my grandpa is dropping some knowledge. and more here. and even more below. are you picking it up? 

I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live. Francoise Sagan, playwright and novelist (1935-2004)

Never cut what you can untie (rewrite). Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Every word was once a poem. Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry. Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (1880-1949)

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. Linus Pauling, chemist, peace activist, author, educator; Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Peace Prize (1901-1994)

We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us. Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), rhetorician (c. 35-100)

p.s.  speaking of guest posts, want even more of my mumblings? check out my very first guest post (ever!) on karla’s blog HERE.

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