Submitted by megan on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 23:27
So how do you do it?
How do you sit down, when you're not sure where to start, when you're not sure where you're going, when you already don't seem to have enough time.
What are your coping skills? How do you set fingers to keyboard, ink to paper, glue to fabric, paint to canvas, whatever to whatever? How do you motivate yourself to start? How do you keep yourself going?
I figure everyone's got their way of starting and keeping going, and I figure I probably do too, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out.
Strange that, since this is usually my forte: systems and habits. But enh, there you go, I cannot. And so I ask you:
how do you do it?
I wanna hear it all.
Comments
14 comments postedI think for a couple of days and get some sparse thoughts on paper. I do a little bit of research. Then I get up at 6 on the day it's due and give myself a couple of hours to write the darn thing -- no more, no less.
I'm terribly non-creative, so I'll do what non-creative people do, and rip off other people's good ideas, and present it to you.
http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of...
I have a note binder-clipped to my studio curtain. It says "Don't think, just start."
Music keeps me going.
I collect a lot of feelings inside me until I'm going to explode and then I sit myself down in a quiet place to let it all come out - onto my instrument, canvas or keyboard. You have to be completely full though, or it will just leak a bit instead of coming out in a steady stream.... Eventually I learned how to focus that emotion to do just what I want it to.
I do have image note books, where I save pictures and images that I like, for when I am ready to use them. I write notes for writing.
But it's the "ready to use them" part that is the kicker, right?
I am sorry to say that all the best work, is dependant on hoopla. Drama. Pain.
Heartbreak is probably my biggest muse.
I make great work, when I am just so overwhelmed and need to just get lost. Need to escape into something I can do without thinking or feeling.
A recipient is probably the next - you know, having a reason - a context - a person to take it when it's done. A project, a task - a challenge. Which is different then a deadline.
A deadline just makes me want to do it less.
When there is no drama, everything is hunky dory, the work suffers.
So for me, lack of inspiration - lack of work - is sometimes a very good sign.
I go biking/walking/running without music. I write songs on my bike more consistently than anywhere else. Probably why I had way more material when I was a messenger. I keep a notebook in my pocket to jot ideas down. Eventually there's so much material that I'm dying to figure it out on the guitar.
Like they say in the movie Finding Forester... The secret to writing is... to write... not think, but write. Thinking comes later.
For a long time I had the same problem w/ getting started. Oh sure, I had IDEAS but I just couldn't get going w/ any of 'em. It has already been echoed above but I think the trick is to just to start doing it - w/o any plan or goal or rigid process. I am a definite "creature of habit" but I found trying to (re)create the perfect writing atmosphere was nearly impossible since too many factors were out of my control. Nowadays when I have time to write, I pull out my notebook or any scrap of paper and try to put it down w/o thinking about it. If I can manage to get 2 hours uninterrupted or even just 5 minutes I am happy to have had the time. Now I write every single day, despite even having less time to do it, and I am more pleased with the results than ever.
Lastly, I think of writing in the same way as an athlete would think of training. It takes hard work and perseverance to get into shape, and by keeping at it consistently, your body/mind slowly starts helping you to push through. Eventually your mind becomes less concerned with "should I or shouldn't I write today" and it becomes a natural, unconscious habit.
Hopefully all of the comments from everyone above help you to get going! Bonne chance!
Depends on the nature of the work. Mostly I read some, and then a thought or a sentence or a point or something pops into my head and I start writing. I usually need that one thought to spark the rest. Once the ball is rolling, it rolls and rolls.
Some of the best stuff comes out in the editing process, though, so I like to just hammer something out on paper and work with that. The most important part is to just start writing.
Hey! Thanks everyone!
Though I was sort of hoping for a magic bullet. But you've confirmed what I suspected already. I'm just going to have to do it.
But keep it coming, if you've got more advice for how you encourage yourselves and get started in the first place.
I kind of work like Hella Stella. I don't go anywhere near a keyboard until I know pretty much exactly what I'm going to write. The ideas arrive mostly when I'm walking unencumbered (e.g: no one to talk to, no iPod, no sacks of groceries) and/or just before I fall asleep at night. Once there's a solid idea, it gets fleshed out as I keep walking or start falling asleep. By the time I finally make it to the keyboard it's just a matter of typing it all out. Then I usually do a few edits and bob's your uncle
I start by doodling then try to work that doodle into something that looks like something. If I write, I just write, I don't do any research. As the old saying goes "never let the facts get in the way of a good story!"
Random google image searches - works every time
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