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Following Up on a Nugget of Inspiration
I'm sitting on a plane headed to Thailand, and have just written what I intend to be a blog entry.
But I'm hungry, I wanted to write more, and here I am.
I have a lot on my mind at the moment, a lot bubbling up and I would like to capture it.
At the forefront of my mind, is a desire to succeed. I've got a destination in mind, and I know where I want to be in five years time, and I know where I want to be in ten years time. Beyond this, I don't think I have the foresight to envisage beyond that, but I will know before I get there.
I'm driven. That's a given. I'm not settling for mediocre and I want to achieve a lot in my time here. Every day progresses and I'm closer to achieving my goals. Each year passes and I reflect on the year before in wonder.
I'm on an upwards trajectory and am fortunate enough to be have been on this path for long enough now for reflection, this reflection sees appreciation, and this appreciation drives me to seek more. I'm a proud person, and I seek a hell of a lot to be proud of.
I'm starting a lot of this sentences with 'I'. That's because I have me on my mind. Nobody else is going to hand me what I want so I have to rely on myself to get there. Fortunately I have a skill set and the acumen to go there and continually self-improve.
Where's the destination? What do I want to achieve?
First things first, I have a book I want to publish. It has 54,000 words done and it's not enough. I want to finish it. I want it out there. I want to spread my message and have something I can be proud of. Why am I telling you this? I want to be accountable. Without documenting what I want it will only remain in my head, and all that lies in my head are dreams.
I'm going to wrap this entry up here. That's my first goal. I'm making this promise to myself: by the time I'm back on the plane, I'm going to have tangibly progressed towards my goal. 54,000 words down, and its not enough. I'm going to continue writing...
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Hopefully the 54,000 words you've written are better than your blog entries, which are not particularly eloquent and in fact often demonstrate technical shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteAn aspiring novelist who doesn't read books? Really? Is the absurdity of that completely lost on you? Assuming you can overcome your technical challenges, how do you expect to convey a message in a way unique or interesting enough to warrant publication if you aren't even benchmarking yourself against other published authors? Or taking inspiration from them? How many musos do you know who never go to other gigs? Artists who never visit exhibitions?
It sounds like you'll end up with an overcooked, middling and culturally irrelevant high school creative writing entry.
Hey The Seat,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. The absurdity isn't lost on me, but I think you missed the second part of my sentence - I read content (which is predominantly online). Over time, I've ceased to read many traditional books, and I really don't see this as a shortcoming.
I'm very interested in what you mean by technical shortcomings. My blog is a casual expression platform, and not intended to be a masterpiece. You talk about overcoming technical challenges, yet neglect to mention (or don't know) that I'm studying a Masters in Writing.
I welcome your feedback and would love to discuss more, but unfortunately you've chosen to be anonymous, and to me that is a shame.
Thanks for reading.
The key takeaway was that you don't have the attention span to read books. Novels. Collected short stories, memoirs - whatever. Online content is a category of its own, easily digestible and designed for digestion on mobile devices. Although an emerging category in its own right, what you find with a lot of online content is that incorporating the fundamentals of good writing are secondary to getting a point across in an economical and entertaining way.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, you aren't equipping yourself to be a writer or novelist in a classical sense if your nexus to the literary world is entirely modern. A course means shit if you aren't appreciating how language, sentence construction and other devices are being employed by modern masters of the art. Are you aware that the 2011 Booker Prize is awarded tomorrow? You should be tracking down all the shortlisted authors from the past five years at least and gobbling their work up.
I appreciate that your blog is a casual expression - but if you're an aspiring writer why aren't you taking it as an opportunity to make it the best fucking casual expression it can be? Why waste words? Everything you write should be amazing...a birthday card or letter to someone should express yourself, in a few lines, in a way that resonates with the reader and makes them FEEL what you think about them. An email to invite friends to a BBQ or party should be a prelude to the event you will be hosting, and ENTERTAIN them in a few short lines. Opportunities to write anything should be grabbed with both hands.
Everything that you write should elicit feeling in the reader otherwise it's just literary masturbation. You're making a mistake by dismissing your blog as a 'casual expression' because everyone who reads it will be judging you as a writer. He's not necessarily to my taste, but the Sydney author Sam de Brito is a good case in point. He writes a few times a week for the SMH and has also published a few books - but it's clear from reading his blogs that he is a very accomplished writer. His blog entries aren't the same as his novels, but his class generally shines through.
From the blog entries I've read, you write like someone who is TRYING to be a writer but your expression is laboured. You do a decent job of putting words about feelings on a page; or describing things; or recounting experiences in vivid detail. But it at times feels cliched, like something a high school student would write after being taught "The Five Critical Components of Good Story Telling", it's like reading a well-ordered collection of words rather than an evolving story.
High school kids write the way they do because most of them lack exposure at that age to great adult storytellers. Masters who effortlessly weave words and language into stories. You need to surround yourself with inspiring stories and learn from them otherwise the time you've spent on you first 54,000 words will be wasted.
Have you read Cloudstreet by Tim Winton? Do that before the end of 2011.
Has the original blog post has now been edited, removing your line about not reading many books?
ReplyDeleteThanks The Seat - I appreciate the effort you've put into your comments and while you come across as a bit scathing, I think you have good intentions. Thoughts taken on board.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I think The Seat got the lack of "book reading" from the entry prior to this one.
Thanks both for reading.
I enjoyed the comments more than the blog.
ReplyDeletehow can we see some of this book? is it on the blog?
ReplyDeletehey marsh, mixers are missing your stories how's your holiday?
ReplyDelete