Thursday, June 7, 2012

VIVA LE RESISTANCE! Er, PERSISTENCE! Yeah, that's right..

So a group of us are starting a Fast Draft session starting... Now! Jenny Hansen started the ball rolling and I am 100% committed to this thing. Just as soon as I can fight through all this underhanded sneaky resistance. I am home sick, like, can't talk sick, tired, sore throat, coughing sick. I could have been lounging all morning writing, but I noticed the dog had dropped clumps-o-hair, so I vacuumed.


Then I realized dirty baseball uniforms
needed to be washed...along with towels and unmentionables etc., etc., etc.
Now, I'm exhausted, and I can hear "resistance" chuckling. Chuckling I tell you. So, I thought I'd write about the damn thing and hopefully exorcise it: Out evil editor and saboteur and maker of doing dreaded housework, when I could totally get away with doing none! BE GONE! No really.

Steven Pressfield wrote a book to save us all, called: The War of Art
I know, in your brain, you're going, no she's wrong, it's called The Art of War, and was written like a bajillion years ago. Yes, but Steven Pressfield has made a lovely play on words with his title and a valid point:
Sometimes producing art feels like war.

Only in that you have to battle yourself and your well-meaning -- or not so much so -- loved ones.

So, if you've never done Candace Havens' Fast Draft or even heard about it. Check it out. Plus, read The War of Art, it will change something inside of you -- but the trick is to keep the change.

I think I've tucked-in resistance for a nap, and I'm off to write.

How does resistance rear its bulbous head in your life, and can you beat it into submission? Tell me how you do it.

2 comments:

  1. Is there someplace online that explains how fast drafting works? I've heard of it through Jenny, and you, and a few others who are doing it right now, but I'm honestly not sure how it's supposed to work other than that you set extremely high daily word counts.

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  2. Hi Marcy, thanks for stopping by, it's all about banishing that evil editor and pushing/slogging through. And because you have to check-in every day, it makes you want to accomplish something... Every day. My work now has places where I've become stuck, and instead of that stopping me for the day, I simply write: MORE HERE, or: SOMETHING MENACING HERE and AFTERMATH, when I don't know things.

    I've allowed myself to write a great big sloppy wild manuscript.
    Hope this helps.

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