Monday, August 17, 2009

Looking beyond the dog days

They're finally here - hot, humid, hazy. Haven't taken a walk in days because it almost hurts to breathe the air. A bit late. Usually this kinda weather comes in July. We're in the second half of August. And it looks it - just the way all the green has changed. That coupled with the fact that school is starting soon for my kids (son's back to high school and daughter back to college) has me contemplating what I'm going to do this fall.

Lots of stuff has been marinating in my brain over the summer. I liked doing the interview with Randy Lagana and have more planned (if the various folks will agree). But I'm thinking of doing them more as a conversation than I did before. Not sure how that will work, but like I said, marinating.

I've also got to get myself some structure. I work better with routine, but I'm not good at making one - I seem to need them to come from the outside. This summer has seen a lot of floundering on my part. Deadlines passing by, neglected notes to self, and a sort of suspended animation brought on by my own lack of focus. I do a lot more than just this blog and I tend to be sporadic with everything. Which frustrates me. I am my own worst enemy. Somehow I have to change that. I've thought about doing the public to do list - but my fear of making a total and complete ass out of myself prevents me from doing more than let the thought spark from one neuron to the next.

Hopefully soon I'll get a post up about my impressions of our Gettysburg eroticist summit (or however Craig put it. I think it was Craig. Yes it was - found it while getting his link). I also want to get into the whole getting books signed thing - I'm gonna take pictures of some of my signed books to go with it and that's one thing that's holding me up. Also, to latch onto a current topic, but in a different way, I'm going to get into some nostalgia about Woodstock (no I wasn't there - I was only 11 years old at the time and lived in San Jose, California) - because it was one of those "formative" events in my life. Yeah, you're wondering how the hell?

I'm also going to slowly let my "other" writing self merge more with the Erobintica one. I just want to write and I think it's been counterproductive for me to try to keep everything separate. It's a bit of a mind fuck, and not in a good way.

So, those are just a few of the things I've been thinking about. There's lots more, but that's enough for now.


8 comments:

Emerald said...

"I've also got to get myself some structure. I work better with routine, but I'm not good at making one - I seem to need them to come from the outside."

I relate to this so much. It's funny — I seem to feel a fear/resistance to having scheduling/structure come from the outside (resistance to someone else having "command" over any of my schedule, if you will), yet I have found historically that it seems that the less time I feel like I have to do things, the more I have tended to get done. ::insert baffled look here:: And, as you alluded to as well, I myself have not historically seemed to demonstrate the discipline to create (and sometimes adhere to) my own structured schedule very consistently. Sigh.

Yesterday I talked about Five-Element Acupuncture, and if I remember correctly the upcoming season of Autumn holds structure, schedules, routines as one of its offerings. Since these seasonal gifts were discerned by ancient cultures (when they actually did live according to the seasons), imagine fall being the time of harvest, storage, preparation for winter, etc.

Hugs.

Alana Noel Voth said...

Religion divides women. Men divide women. Hell, women divide women sometimes. Never divide yourself. You're many pieces of a wonderful whole. Bravo! Peace, A

Craig Sorensen said...

It's a tough gig, this writer thing, Robin.

It's never simple, because I don't think there is any "method" that one person can teach another. You have to take bits and pieces of other people's techniques and find what resonates with the natural you.

I personally cannot live in total order, or total chaos. I need both, and getting those to bad mo-fo's to work together is a challenge.

Em, I get exactly what you're saying about getting more done with less time. Keeping myself "saturated" is part of the chaos side.

Erobintica said...

Em,
Yeah, I bristle at having a schedule imposed on me, but I do tend to get stuff done then. I also tend to get things done if not getting them done will let someone else down. I'm not so conscientious when I'd only be letting myself down. Hmmmm.

Alana,
Lived far too much of my live divided, keeping important parts of myself separate. I still have good friends that don't know about this part of myself. That doesn't feel right to me, but I'm moving slowly in the direction I need to go.

Craig,
Yeah, it is. I'm always fascinated to hear how other writers work, because they all seem to work in different ways, which I find comforting. That way I know that there is no one "right" way to go about it, so I am not automatically doing it "wrong" - hahaha.

Scarlett Greyson said...

Hi Robin!

I totally, totally empathize. And, like you and Em, having someone else tell me how to schedule my day/week/whathave you just makes my skin crawl. I have the benefit of a schedule imposed upon me by my job and by Mr. Greyson. My time to write is so limited, that I've gotten much better at slipping into my writer's frame of mind and just DOING it. Not all the time, but sometimes.

But it is hard. When it comes to creativity, there are those of us who can prod our muses awake and actually get something from them. Others have to let their muse approach on his/her own time. I think that's going to be key to figuring out what you need to do.

Somethings that help me...I write ideas down whenever they come to me. If it's a sentence, I jot that down along with whatever else is contained in the image of that sentence. If it's just the arc of a plot, I jot that down. The more I do this, the better I get at getting enough down to pick it up with the time to actually write presents itself.

I've also started working on projects that exist as a series of vingettes(the Voyeur series is one of those). I know the overall plot of the story, but the individual scenes just pop into my head from time to time. I've goaled myself to write those at 1k words or less. The more I do of them, the easier they are getting to write, and other, similarly framed ideas are bubbling up.

It's kind of a goal of write, write something, anything, good or bad, just to get the wheels moving.

*hugS*
SG

Erobintica said...

Hey Scarlett,

I envy you being able to slip into writer's mind. It's been eluding me this summer. Think my muse took the "lazy" part of summer too seriously.

If not for the little notebook I keep with me constantly, I'd forget so much. It does help. I'm great for saving ideas - now to make the time to do something with them.

Your series is a cool idea. It will be fun to see where it goes.

neve black said...

Hey Robin,
Your post here was very thought provoking and raw. Thank you.

I say, if you can write, just write and worry less about what section or brand the piece is going to fit into - yeah, I know, easier said than done, but I think if you have something to say, than say it loudly - we're all listening. :-)

Fantasia Lillith said...

Have had a tough time this summer writing myself. I don’t think summer was meant for this. I find I have a lot of ideas and collect them, knowing that when the cold months of winter and my need to "hibernate" comes knocking I'll be happy for the notes left to self.

Routine kills me ... slow and painful death. In all things physical, mental and emotional. Don't try and fit in a box! unless you made your own box!