I hear it all the time, authors must always be writing. Set goals. 10k a day. Exercises to unblock writer's block. It may just be me, but every must do for writers, every trick to writing inevitably ends up with someone trying to sell you something.
Forget the sales aspect for a moment and just think about the fact that daily writing goal with 5k, 10k or higher word counts take a lot of time to write. Of course, that depends on what you have plotted out, how fast you can type, and a few other factors, but point being it is a good chunk of each day.
Fine.
We need to get words onto the page if we are to be the thing we call writers, authors, wordsmiths, poets, whatever ... but if we are always a slave to the pen, or keyboard, then when do we find the inspiration to write? When do we find the muses that float around us, yearning to instill in us the need to tell a story?
Sure, we get ideas from shows, books, movies, whatever, but if other media works are all the inspiration we take in, then aren't we just regurgitating the same stuff back to the audience in some paraphrased form. Sure, one can say that there are really only 7 plots and thus all movies have been made in one form or another. That the unknowing phone booth use in Bill & Ted's was somehow just a rip off of Dr. Who. Or that any animated show dealing with civil rights is just ripping off X-Men comics.
But if we are to split hairs and be that pedantic, then throw away your television, burn your books and live in a cabin in the middle of the Minnesota woods.
I mean, we need to live. Experience life on our own terms. Not just watch it pass us by. I am not calling for every introvert to shed their skin and change who they are. But being introverted isn't being holed up in the home all day, either. For the extroverts, I don't mean partying with a few close friends and a bunch of strangers till the break of dawn, repeating the same night, night after night waiting for the variable to shine through on what makes it different this time.
I mean, take a walk through some woods, or mountain. Nature not for you? Check out abandon buildings that don't look like they are about to collapse if a foot touches their foundation. Strike up a conversation with a stranger that seems interesting with no ulterior motive behind the interaction than to hear a story. Do something. Live. Watch wild animals, birds, insects, whatever, just watch and observe. Ride a roller coaster if for nothing else than to better understand the ups and downs and twists and turns and how they all aren't the same velocity, depth, sharpness, etc.
I say this not because I think each event will hit you across the face with some inspired story that will turn you into the next NYT Best Seller, but because when we live, we learn to understand life a little better. Our perspective changes just a little and we better ourselves, and in doing so better our writing. If nothing else, if none of those things happen, it at least gets you away from being a slave to the keyboard for a little while.
I've been up for 2.5 hours after only getting 4.5 hours of sleep. So, I am not grammar or spell checking this blog as I am overly tired, and my alarm is about to go off signaling my need to start my day. Be good and until next time, go live life.
Til next time,
Nick
***Update: Grammar, punctuation, and spelling checked***
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