A Note of Enthusiasm

While writing is often considered a solitary pursuit, writers are reactive personalities, just like actors.   Think about it.  In a play, an actor feeds off of the energy of his audience.  If they aren't feeling it, the actor's performance can slip and his confidence gets shaken, and then the cycle not only continues, but gets worse.  When the actor isn't completely committed to his role, the audience becomes even more disgruntled.  BUT, just one actor who enjoys what he's doing can be the high point in an otherwise forgettable performance. 

A few years back, we caught a showing of The Phantom of the Opera. The main leads had the night off and the "second-string" cast was on stage.  It was a matinee on a grungy day, and the audience was still in heavy hibernation mode. The performers were technically hitting every mark, but everything just felt "off" .

This continued up to the Il Muto scene, when the character of Don Attillo (the foolish, letch-y old husband) came out with his few scant lines of song.  Meh. It was a one-dimensional caricature. It was the character I liked the least. The character that always just made me sick and cringey just watching him.

And he then he hit AND HELD an impossibly deeeeeeeeep bass note for a solid five minutes. 

By deep, I mean the guy was singing Straight. Out. Of. His. Knees. His voice never wavered, not even once. And when the audience, in understandable awe, began to applaud, he waved them off with a slight grin, and easily held that note EVEN longer.  Well, that was all the audience needed, and this throwaway character got a standing ovation right there.  The energy changed.  The audience was wholly invested now and the running bad joke became an instant object of admiration. A hero!  The other players instantly fed off the attitude shift and the rest of the performance was incredible.  It only took one person to just throw himself in with complete abandon.  To just say to himself, "Screw it, I'm going to have fun with this."  And instantly, everyone else was all-in.  To this day, I think of that note and I feel shivery and electrified all at once.

So to my point. Ladies and gentlemen, do not be afraid to jump in with joy.  There are any number of reasons to feel insecure about the writing game.  Maybe you're a newbie and are feeling utterly overwhelmed. Or maybe you're an old hand fighting writer's block.  Maybe you pinned your hopes on writing that elusive best seller, critic's darling and it hasn't happened.  Maybe you're afraid to show anyone what you're capable of, and your best work is still hidden away in a shoebox.  That's a whole lot of maybes, but here is one certainty.

The writing process is soooooo much easier and  vastly more pleasant when you surround yourself with people who build you up.  You'll want to prove yourself to them.  You'll want to see if you can out do yourself.  When you are around people who want to help, but aren't there to judge, it's like having a protective glow around you.  On a personal level, I've always felt that being around a group of people who challenge you and who are excited about the work they are doing is like riding in on a big wave.  Your heart literally feels as though it is being lifted up in your chest, and you feel ready to try anything.  And whether you write as a hobby, or have a more serious intentions, being willing to try anything, in a safe environment is a fabulous way to grow as a writer.    While I have always found Enthusiasm to be one of the most crucial components to the writing process, there are days, when that's a "harder sell" than others. Maybe this article will be useful.

Powering Down

"I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. I've got whosits and whatits galore.  You want thingamabobs, I've got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more..."  Disney's The Little Mermaid.   *Lyrics used w/out permission.  Not claiming these lyrics as my own. Fair Use.

Pardon me while I shake off the sand out of my gills. 

It is one of the great paradoxes. The more time-saving devices you have, the less time you actually seem to save, and that, ladies and gents, leads me to my Uber-challenge. One of the constant excuses I hear is that writers who want to write can't find time to write.  I say "Bah!" to you.  This is a crock of stinking brown stuff, and you know it.    In order to wean yourselves from your technological crutches, I am challenging all of you to turn off your tech.  Use your phones as phones.  Turn off the TV.  Limit yourself to 20 minutes of daily interweb (at home) time to check emails and visit your essential sites.  Try it for one day.  Then, if you haven't gone into complete withdrawal, try it for the next day and so on. Baby steps, folks, baby steps.

I'm not saying you should write all the time.  Life happens. Your family needs you. Your boss would probably be grouchy if you spent your all of your cubicle time working on that Great American Novel instead of, you know, the job you're getting paid to do.  And I'm the last one to dismiss the necessity of down time. BUT when you do have the time to write, are you writing? No.  You are doing anything else but.  You're playing Words with Friends.  You're watching television.  You putter. You fuss.  You pick this up, you put that down. But you're not writing.  You are stalling.  It is important to remember that procrastination isn't an art. It's a con job.  The more you buy into procrastinating, the less actual writing you'll get done.

But allow me to stretch my mer-metaphor to its limits here.  It's time to get downright primitive, folks, and go back to the fertile seas that gave birth to our fevered brains.  It's a safe bet that all of us spend far too much time wrapped up in other people's stories, and not enough time on our own.  Reading is great. Researching is fabulous.  Yet, if it's quality time with a pen and paper you need, well, golly gee, shut everything off and get to work.  If you can keep making excuses about why you can't write, then face it, writing isn't that important to you. 

There are thousands and thousands of books out there that will tell you all of these mystical secrets for writing, but the true key to writing boils down to three very simple steps that anyone can do.

1) Get your butt in a chair.

2) Write something.

3) NOW!