Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Summer Reprise Series #7: It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position

Summer Reprise Series #7: It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position
First published March 24, 2015

This is the third of three blogs on what you should be writing. What follows the ellipsis in the title is “…as long as you’re writing something.” PRO and CON arguments in support of that statement were presented in previous blogs. This week I’ll present the “what I believe” position.

Keep in mind as you read this that the purpose of a blog for a writer is to extend your brand, communicate with your readers, and offer insight into the writer of the blog as a person. Hopefully, each of my blog entries does a bit of each.

Since writing is a process that spans genres in both fiction and non-fiction, writing something, then editing it, and revising it, and editing it, and having the writing critiqued, and editing, and revising it, is valuable practice.

If you are writing something to avoid writing something else . . . well, that could be a problem. I am not advocating writing as an avoidance strategy in any sense. Sometimes, you just get stuck—perhaps your protagonist has landed in a situation from which there seems to be no escape. Sending your mind on a trip down another pathway—by spending time writing on another project—might be just the trick to unleash the idea that’s holding your character prisoner.

However, intentionally avoiding one project for a prolonged period of time just because you don’t want to work on it might indicate that the project you’re avoiding should be removed from your radar screen entirely.

I just scanned the area around my computer and I see no dead horses. But, I suspect an equine corpse is lurking close by, so let me cut to the chase.

If you are a writer, you should be writing.
Period.

Writing isn’t just pounding keys and watching words appear on the screen in front of you. The process varies a bit by author, but the a good overview is provided in my booklet, “Idea Farming – Volume #1 – A Science Guy’s Read on Writing.”

This blog was written while I was working on production of a new book, editing an existing manuscript, and finalizing the formatting of Book Creation – Volume #2A Science Guy’s Exploration of Publishing Resources; and adding ideas to the outlines of two other book ideas.

Once again,
if you are a writer, you should be writing.

Next blog: Proofreading Epiphany Revealed

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor


My website is: www.crdowning.com

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