Journal Notes

The Creative Process

10-6-94 -- Journal Notes (unedited)

No creative work accomplished in the last few days. Very little writing accomplished in the last few weeks. Thought I'd write about not writing.

"Write every day." Well, that precept is certainly true. Once you get away from your desk, it is very difficult to go back. Writing is a habit, like any other - something you must work at every day.

In this journal I'm supposed to record my thoughts, observations, fears, hopes, dreams, etc. No one sees this but me and I am still holding back.

I need to find a story where I will put my guts out on the table, turn them over and examine them - then I'll be able to tell a meaningful story.

I guess I'll just have to flog myself into the act of writing until writing becomes an ingrained habit. So many writers say they "can't not write." Sounds like a compulsion to me.

I'm not afraid that my writing is no good - my first feeble efforts have been published. I should have been buoyed by that 'success' and continued on.

But no, I think my characters are stick figurines, my work lacking in substance. I shouldn't be so hard on myself - after all, I am a beginning writer.

There are mistakes all beginning writers make. A learning process, hopefully a process of growth.

Which brings us to the art of writing. Almost a daunting task - all the elements that go into a story or novel... Let's hope I am an instinctive writer. One who instinctively knows what works and what doesn't.

Such instincts could carry me through my writing until such time as I have a better grasp of the craft of writing.

A year has passed since I declared myself a writer. I've had some small successes - two short stories, essays and poetry published this year! - and I've learned a little, read a lot, but only actually completed four stories.

Ugh! I need to find the wherewithal to sit down, write, finish and put in the mail, the forty or so stories hidden away in file folders and also the recesses of my mind.

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