A Writer's Inevitability

I suppose it was supposed to happen some time or the other, and to be frank, I was expecting it. I just did not realise how unprepared I was for it. I'm talking about that moment you realise that your friends have no idea exactly how much it takes to write a novel.

I have made peace with the fact that writing a novel will take a lot of this:

(Anyone who knows anything about drinking more than one cup of coffee a day knows that you have coffee black with half a teaspoon of sugar per 200ml of coffee)

And not a lot of this:

(I have absolutely no idea who the people in the picture are - I got the thing off Google. If you're in it and you don't want to be, drop me a comment and I'll find a new one)

Especially if I have to balance a full time job and writing. Up until now my friends have been supportive. Most of them thought it was awesome to have a friend that is writing a book and that will one day be a published author. (They are naively optimistic about a debut Fantasy author's publishing prospects in South Africa, and I keep it that way since they make me feel good about myself)

But I had to be aware that the novelty would wear off, and tonight it did. I was asked by a close friend to join them for movies and takeout, and had to decline since this week has not been a very productive writing week, and I had to catch up. That's when I got the comment: "But no one told you to write a novel."

Yes, I know it was said in jest, and I know that the person did not mean it seriously and I know that they never thought I would take offence, but still, it hurt.

If you've read yesterday's post, you'd know that I currently have this story bashing the inside of my skull to get out and I desperately NEED to write. It's a physical need, like eating and breathing. I'm not doing this for anyone other than myself, because I'm sure that if I do not write this story down, my head will explode and my friends and family will have to pick the pieces of my skull out of the curtains.

And on that happy note I leave you,

Happy writing...

Lethologica

My brain is going to mush. I blame a stressful combination of work, writing and personal issues for that. You see, I managed to start suffering from lethologica, but not in any clinical sense, and I don't think it's necessary to go see a specialist but it is impacting negatively on my writing.

You see, when a person wants to write a sentence, they usually have an idea of what they want to say, so they sit down and write it down using the words and phrases that best articulate their thoughts at that time. I thought it might also be because English isn't my first language. I find myself knowing what I want to say in Afrikaans, but having to write it in English and somehow those thoughts don't always translate well. But it is part of the writer's bane, I suppose.

At the moment my head is swimming with story, and every piece of the story demands my immediate, undivided attention. The words want to break out and tell the story to the point that my fingers struggle to keep up with my brain. I think if it was up to my enthusiasm, this novel would be finished this week.

I have spoken to a couple of fellow writers, and read the same thing on a couple of author blogs and I must say that I've had a similar experience. The first 10 000 words were the hardest. It took me four months to hit 10k, and only two weeks to write the next 3000. I would like to describe this as the "honeymoon" period in my writing. The story is well on its way and the only thing standing in its way is the fact that it has to be channelled through me, an ordinary human being that has to try and keep one foot in the real world - if only so that I have food to eat.

I have another theory as to why there seems to be periods in time that writing just flows. There are two other writers in my writing circle, The Writing Circle That Has Yet To Be Named (although Dave calls us his fellow WITs - apparently that stands for Writers In Training) and between the thee of us we go through the same kind of writing spurts/slumps. A couple of weeks ago real life decided to get in the way of me writing and for the month of July I wrote a total of 1500 words. Disgusting, I know. But it seemed to me, and they're free to correct me if I'm wrong, that my fellow WITs had a similar issue - The words were just not getting out.

I blame the Universe, or thank it depending on what time of day you ask me. Maybe nature provides these slumps for our weary brains to rest a while, to gain perspective on our stories and give the seeds time to germinate, so to speak. It was just strange that it happened for three people roughly at the same time.

Isn't nature just wonderful?

My Life in Links

I think I'll start a new feature that I'll update every so often on the blog where I post the links that I found or that friends shared. I'll divide them into sections to make it easier.

Youtube Clips:
I share an office with a friend that finds the most amazing and strange clips on Youtube. Don't get me wrong, I find my fair share of weirdness, but he seems to have the knack/connections for it. Between the two of us we have discovered a myriad of mirth or shock inducing clips. I think I'll share a couple with you.

Our current kick is from the film Clue with Madeleine Kahn playing Mrs White.



Just before this we were quoting the infamous Double Rainbow guy. Here's the link to Double Rainbow guy's conversation with Adolf Hitler:



And here's Double Rainbow Guy's song:



I discovered this little gem parody depicting the way in which our favourite oil company handles a spill:



And if you've ever wondered how many ninjas you could fit in a jazz (because, you know you've always wanted to know), here you go:



Then there was this freak from the Electric Daisy Carnival:



Current Affairs
Then there were some current affair issues that also had their own links, starting with the issue of Freedom of Press in SA where I initially linked to the leading party's views on the transformation of the media. Then on 4 August, the first journalist was arrested amidst a fanfare.In lieu of these events, Lauren Beukes posted her Big Issue column early in which she discusses the freedom of press issue in SA.

Bookish News
I posted a couple of links relating to books on my FB page, the first were the betting odds for the Man Booker prize, and the second was the link to "With Great Power" - which I really want.

From now on I'll try and update my links every so often.

Keep it real,

L