Some of my favorite writers quotes about writing that I simply must share with you! What better time than the beginning of a new year to take a break from writing and reflect a bit, both soberly and with some humor?
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway
Who can argue with that?
I’ve been a writer a lot of years and mostly have gone it alone. You know, that typical, writer sequestered alone in (my case) a lovely office with dog at my feet, plotting and writing away.
But what happens when things change? When the career takes yet another turn (most careers have many of those turns) and life hands this writer a new direction and simultaneously a writing partner?
For starters, with a great writing partner, things pop and sizzle as never before. We end each other’s sentences and marvel at one another’s ideas. Effortless. Satisfying. Fun! It gives us chills!!
It’s near the holidays – I’m tired – kinda need a writing break so I decided I’ll talk a bit about my writing space. If you had the opportunity to visit my blog a couple of weeks back, you’d have taken my office tour http://bit.ly/1M2VdSO and seen where I hunker down to create novels, scripts, and now comics.
It’s comfortable and a great space, ever evolving. So let me tell you a little more about it. I’m fortunate in that my office is fairly large. Around 11 X 18 feet. About the time we built this house (may I add we did a lot of the work ourselves) I was ready for a real office and not a corner somewhere.
Amusingly our builder didn’t really need blueprints except for the necessary permits so he said, hey, if you let me expand the dimensions it won’t cost anything extra because you’ll save a lot in labor as we won’t have to cut every piece of wood to size. It was a bit more detailed than that, but that’s the gist. So it ended up being a bit bigger than I’d first planned which was just fine with me.
Okay, the end of the year is coming. No doubt we’re all feeling a bit crunched for time. It’s just a seasonal thing.
Or is it?
Writers almost always are performing a juggling act, especially early on in their careers. You know, the day job. Unless you’re retired with lots of time to write or a millionaire with no money cares you probably have a day job right now or have perhaps recently had the good fortune and finally enough stability in your chosen field of writing to be able to put that behind you.
Your brain is really important, right? No brainer, so to speak. For writer’s that’s particularly true, just as it is for software developers or lawyers or any other ‘brain-oriented’ pursuit.
So, what’s the best way to coddle the brain, to give it what it needs to optimize work and creativity? And, let’s face it, we all get older, so how does that affect what we’re trying to accomplish? What’s going on as we age?
For starters, from what I’ve read and from personal experience the young brain is faster. But, and it’s a big BUT, it isn’t necessarily better. Despite the great pride may 20-somethings take in working 16 hour days and more, of pushing it to the limit, writing all night long, then crashing, sorry, that’s not the way to attain an optimal work and create flow. What’s that? Well, it’s an extended (key word extended) amount of time during which mind an body are in sync, engaged in high-thinking and wild imagining pursuits (yep, like writing that script or novel). You’re focused, your body is comfortable (no, you’re not sucking down caffeine), your attitude is positive and all this give rise to your imagination and creativity playing like the creative kid you used to/and still want to be.