A Combination Of Factors

Over the past few weeks, I've been taking every opportunity I can find to do some writing.  This doesn't amount to a lot of time all together, but every little bit I can finagle is worth the effort to me.  I've written a few short article-like vignettes in the past few months and am now working on a short story that has grown to be about 18,000 words long (about 50-60 typewritten pages)...not really in the short story category anymore, which means I'll have to cut it back at some point.  I'm not sure what I am going to do with any of these productions, but I'm having a lot of fun writing them. Yesterday I had an opportunity to spend about three hours writing at a local library and I must say that, despite my guilt about leaving my child in order to write, I had a great time.  I barely moved for those three hours, feeling glued to my computer screen.

Disciplining myself to write on a regular basis was the primary motivator for starting this blog a few months back.  I decided that, in order to determine whether or not I really enjoy writing, I needed to practice being disciplined about it for a period of time.  What better way than via blog, which forces one to jot down a few ideas on a regular basis.

The hardest part of writing, for me, is coming up with the idea.  Something needs to grab my attention before I can apply myself to the expression of it.  I struggle with this constantly. By contrast, I have talked with many other people interested in writing who have loads of ideas, but who lack either the interest, time, ability, or discipline required to translate that idea into the written word.  What amazes me continuously is walking through a book store and seeing the incredible numbers of new books - thousands of them.  I can only imagine what it took to get each of those volumes through the door.  Each required an author to generate an idea, muster enough discipline, invest enough time, and possess enough skill to be able to give birth to the finished product. It's really impressive to me...and I am envious of those who possess all of the needed qualities.

My only hope is that by investing time, discipline, interest, and (hopefully some) ability, the ideas will start to flow!