Mick Davidson: Words & Pictures
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The Beat-writer Goes On

11/27/2011

4 Comments

 
The Light Turns On
Following on from my last blog about the horror of writing, you'll be relieved to know I've fought the demon and overcome it. I've realised and accepted that words do not necessarily flow out but sometimes have to be chiselled out of the page, or your brain depending on your POV.

But I like the flow, am addicted to it. The ability to pour out word upon word is a great pleasure to me. I like the idea of them all appearing out of nowhere, leaping from my imagination onto the page, turning the page from a wilderness into a world that people can discover and get lost in.

Yes, I accept that many of them may have to be eliminated and expunged, but no to controlling the flow – allowing everything to appear without judgment or editing is one of my favourite parts of writing. I also enjoy editing and bashing badly-worded idea into shape, so it's a win-win situation really. A situation made when better when you find a whole string of words that are already beautiful and need no changing.

Doing Something Else
My route around the pain of the slow writing is to write something else instead. It doesn't have to be much. A blog update, a postcard to a friend, a few more words on a totally unrelated story. This might sound like a distraction, and it is, but it clears the log-jam and allows me to come back to the main writing ten minutes later refreshed and able to carry on. And it's an alternative to staring out of the window.

Another distraction activity I have is the guitar, this not only totally changes everything that I'm thinking about; it also gives me some much-needed practise. You can judge for yourself how badly that is needed by watching this video of me playing with my old band about a year ago. I'm the gentleman with the orange beard.

Multi-choice Writing
I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I am usually have at least three writing projects on the go at the same time, plus my regular Specter column and everything that gets crammed into my poetry notebook. My main writing task is Novel 2, followed by an autobiographical outpouring about childhood (written to preserve memory), after that come random entries to various story ideas I have for Novel 3. Lastly there's any competition entries, for example the one being run by Peirene Press.

Does anyone else do this? If so, what and why?

4 Comments
 


zencherry link
11/27/2011 06:07

This is EXACTLY how I do it Mick. Well, all except the guitar part...loved the video btw. Blues rules!

I find the more I write, (no matter what it is), the wider the tap flows the other projects through. I write my blog, I tweet, I send email to many, and then I review, which helps compact everything to a more professional level since I tend to get a wild hair or two. I also compete a lot. (Keeps me on my toes.)

Sometimes though, I hit a brick wall and then I focus on doing something else and let the characters sneak back in for lack of attention. They are little needy buggers no matter how fickle they seem to be sometimes. ;)

Good job on the novel Mick. Do you guys realize he's getting published? Woo hoooo! :D

Reply
nigelld
11/27/2011 12:27

Don't put yourself down, I was there the night you played and it sounded great to me, bum notes an all lol. The orange beard though was something else, some people do anything to stay on the right side of the Dutch.
But as to the writing there must be something in the blood as I need regular distractions and work on a couple of pieces at the same time.
Nigel
http://wp.me/p20X6a-D

Reply
mick davidson
11/28/2011 10:25

@Zencherry @nigelid, so it seems distractions are the key and in the meantime we allow our subconscious to deal with the problem? I find it quite hard to deal with a writing problem unless I'm doing the actual writing. Though writing something very different is helpful.
I also find cycling is a good way of working through writing problems. I've found so many good ideas and resolutions when cycling, it's amazing.
Keep on trucking both of you. :)

Reply
zencherry link
11/30/2011 06:27

Hahhaa! I used to have a tshirt that said that. Keep on truckin'. Now that just dated me a little bit, eh?

Reply



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    Mick Davidson is a full time technical writer and semi-full time fiction author. He also finds time for both guitar playing and photography. When not being creative, he is heavily involved in Staring Out The Window research.

    He is definitely in the market for publication and agent representation.

    The links in my blog are doors to adventures and other countries, they don't all land in the most obvious puddle.


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