Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Q:Physicall, emotionally how do you feel after a good 1-2 page writing spell?

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Posted by muogin (Member # 1963) on :

Hello,

There is one major thing keeping me from being a darn good writer.

After about 1-2 pages of writing I feel like I've just gotten my a-- kicked by the Juggernaut, ran a marathon in the desert, and had all hope for humanity extracted from me via non anisthetic surgery!?

Argh! Any of the rest of you fell this way after writing? CUres? Workarounds? How do you feel physically and emotionally after writing?

Thanks,
Muogin

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Hey, I watch the RNC on TV and it picks me right back up again!

I'm just yanking your chain mg You'll get a few of those after your snipe at a major political figure. It's not that the rest of us don't watch the news, we just usually respect KDW's requests that we not bring it here (besides, what do you want to bet she's a Bushie?).

After 3-4 hours of staring at a line and not writing because everything I try to write looks like the amateurish scribblings of a duckspeaking college English professor, I feel just the same way. After thirty pages of flowing prose, I feel like I'd quit my million dollar a year day job if I had one so I could do this more often.

My answer is to go do something else for a while. This post will not contain the same link as the others, but it does contain the 1st, 2nd, 14th, and 21st letters of the alphabet.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

quote:
what do you want to bet she's a Bushie?

Nothing so simple, I hope.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Well, we can't have the world be perfectly ironic all the time...otherwise it would stop being irony, I suppose.

Or maybe it would be more ironic if you were a steel worker from some other country that had gotten a job because of the aforementioned evil deed? No, I think that would probably cross the line into just being really strange.

Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :

I think I understand what you mean. I've felt that way after writing, and also after acting.

I used to get pretty exhausted and drained after each performance of a play. But (and this probably sounds pretty corny, but bear with me here) you may be able to channel energy from another source to give you a boost. Once I learned to kind of use the audience's energy I felt exhilarated after performing.

Since you don't have that to draw from while sitting and typing, maybe play some upbeat, energetic music that you love? It might help your creative juices a bit. Unless you are good at tuning them out music without lyrics is probably a better choice.

Just a suggestion.

Posted by Mind Surfer (Member # 1686) on :

Hi muogin

I understand where you are coming from. I usually don't feel burned after 1-2 pages, it's a time thing for me. I can only write for one hour stints. After that I have to stop for a while and do something else.

I don't know if you write full time or what. But my schedule is to write for an hour when I wake up in the morning. I go to work for 10 hours. I write for one hour. Then I do something else. I started picking up a guitar and now I can play some songs. It's just something to get you away from the words. It's something that brings life back to you after you've run that 1-2 page marathon. Reading or drawing works for me too. Although if I read, I tend not to want to stop.

Best of luck.

Posted by Balthasar (Member # 5399) on :

Writing is like anything else--it takes time. When I first started playing the guitar years ago, I could play for only an hour or so before I was tried of it. Then when I got to high school, I'd come home and play for hours and hours, deep into the night, keeping everyone awake. But I had to build up to that.

When I first started writing I found that writing four pages a day was hard. But now I can write for a long time without getting tired, but I limit myself to five or six pages, stopping when I'm hot and knowing how the story will progress, because it makes it so much easier to sit down the next day and start writing.

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

Actually, I usually have the opposite problem. Writing energizes me. This may not seem like a problem, and when I was going to school it wasn't, but at 3 o'clock in the morning when you need to be up again at 8, it is an issue.

About the only time I feel dragged down with writing is when I lose my focus or if I'm writing something particularly emotional and personal. At times like these I usually have to walk away from it. Sometimes, I can't even re-read what I've written.

A shot of caffiene in the form of Coke, Jolt or a Chai tea latté can help. Sometimes just going outside for some fresh air will help clear my head.

Hope you find something that helps

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I agree with balthasar, you have to build up to it. I remember a time when an eight-page story made me feel like I'd climbed everest (I was fourteen, I think), and now, I'm well into the triple digits. I write until I can't write anymore, whether it means writing for ten minutes, or two hours.

Posted by babylonfreek (Member # 2097) on :

I've had 2-3 days-long writing marathons. Sleep for a couple of hours (usually fall asleep at my keyboard at 5 am, crawl to bed at six, wake up at 8. Eating... well, eating was sort of put aside.

Needless to say, coming down from that *high* is bad. I can sleep nearly fourteen hours and go to a buffet, that I proceed to rob blind, after that.

That was physically. Emotionally? Drained dry.

But damn, during it? No feeling like it in the entire world.

Posted by Richie (Member # 2167) on :

When I come across those days, I am lucky. I go to the beach and hang out. If that doesn't work I draw or build something.

I actually watched the world poker tour one night to see how many different story lines I could come up with. Then took a few and played them out a little.

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

After I've had a good write I feel like a wilderbeast who doesn't feel like running away from the Lion anymore, (if anyone knows what that means please tell me.)
Really after I've been deep into writing I feel like doing something stupid like playing a bad videogame.

Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :

To extend the wildlife metaphore

I feel exhausted most of the time and write all day at work, it can be pretty dry and featureless stuff -- so a 2 - 3 page creative writing spree can be a bit like a dip into cool water. When I'm done I get out and shiver on the bank for a while wondering if there were bloodsuckers, or leaches or eels lurking in there and am glad I quit swimming before they got me.

In other words I tend to write only a little bit at a time 800 - 1200 words maybe. Otherwise I feel worn out and stupid things creep into my work that it takes longer to edit-out than to write right in the first place and I feel like I've worn out all my ideas at once. I like to keep at least some up my sleeve, to give me a reason to sit down and start writing again next time.

Just realised that Balthasar said much the same thing.

[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited September 06, 2004).]