Monday, November 14, 2011

how a-muse-ing!

I finished watching the lord of the rings trilogy last night at 2 am... Again, I had forgotten much of the plot, and also how emotional the ending is. Very cathartic but also just a lot of weeping on my part (Hobbits!!! Gandalf!!! Elves!!!)

For all my musing on time, I am beginning to learn just how unpredictable scheduling writing time can be. A lot of the time I try to set a schedule, so that I can (hopefully) get work done, and feel like I've accomplished something at the end of the day. But you really can't force it. Sometimes sleeping until noon and watching movies is just as important to the artistic process (I think?).

An example of this: During my laziness this weekend, all of a sudden I was struck by the need to expand one of my 5-pg stories into something longer. Without even torturing myself, I knew exactly what to do: what the story would look like, the structure and plot. In a flurry, I started writing. And consequently, I felt like I had "accomplished" more than anything in the past week.

Is this the muse? Mysterious, unpredictable, yet totally commanding?

I still think it is important to set a schedule, especially for editing and longer projects that you've already outlined. But it is this type of unexpected inspiration that excites me. It is probably the reason I am addicted to writing.

1 comment:

  1. I totally agree. Sometimes lazing around is exactly what I need to write and it is the writing that comes spontaneously that makes writing fun. Although sometimes even the scheduled, more difficult stuff brings a sense of accomplishment that can be as important.

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