The War of Art

Sometimes things happen that just blow my mind. I stumbled across a book this week that totally changed my perspective about the difficulties I face in my writing and I feel as if I've turned a corner.

The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, is written for writers who struggle to write and he nails the real reason we fail. Although the book appears directed at writers, the premise and principals he writes about can be applied to anyone who struggles to succeed. Pressfield identifies the culprit responsible for all failure, not as writer's block but Resistance. And according to Pressfield, Resistance isn't futile, it is evil and we are at war with it.

I am listening to a 2-hr audio version of the book. Last night I got halfway through and I learned so much about resistance in just that hour that it energized me. My brain felt as if it was flooded with some kind of euphoria. I wanted to jump out of bed and go write.

No, I didn't. It was nearly midnight and I had to be up at 6:30 a.m. So, needs must. I stayed in bed and listened for a while. This morning when I was getting ready to go to the write-in I had scheduled at the Mall, I found it wasn't as hard as usual to think about having to write. I have been sick for weeks and I'm still dealing with the cold but I found I was excited about writing. And I wrote when I got there. It was awesome. I came home and had been able I'd have written some more but by then the general fatigue I deal with struck and I sat down to rest. Pressfield would have said that resistance overtook me.

I want to finish the book tonight but I want to write even more. What to do? Pressfield says to identify what is a priority and what is important. Then do what is important. Writing is important.

If you're a writer struggling to write and want to attack the problems you face writing, I'd encourage you to get The War of Art. Pressfield knows whereof he speaks.

Get Well Soon!

I suspect by now you can tell that for me, NaNoWriMo is a wash. Yes, we're only halfway, just a bit more than but let's face it, writing 45K words in 15 days is only for times of extreme necessity.

This ain't the time.

I'm slowly recovering from my plague (severe cold). I've thought a few times that I was going to cough up a lung. For several days now, my head felt as if it would explode when I coughed. My chest hurt. My sides hurt. I couldn't breathe because it felt like my lungs were covered in Saran Wrap(c). I couldn't even use my CPAP machine to sleep. I wanted to sleep, all day, every day.

Life doesn't stop just because you can't function. You pull up your bootstraps and keep marching.

So, I did.

Today things are mildly better. The Azithromycin seems to be working. I'm coughing less and the congestion seems a bit better. It is a beautiful day outside and I wish I had felt like going out. I almost feel like writing but I'm just so tired that I want to lie down instead.

I think I'll just go away for a bit and try to get some rest before tonight's online write-in.

Day 11 of NaNoWriMo 2016

I finally broke 5000 words mark. We're almost at the halfway point and I've just got 1/10 of the total done. So, this year will be a loss. I'm oddly OK with it and that's the first time that's happened.
The cold is still hanging on. I am feeling rough today. My chest is congested and I am coughing and my nose is still runny but I think less so. Doesn't matter. I have to keep going. The good news is that I'm making some progress getting the story completed. Of course, it is going to need tons of work. Not sure it is even worth finishing.
Yeah, I'm at that point. You know the one where you question ever dot and tittle. Yes, that is a word. Where you mutter as you write, "This is junk. No one will read this garbage. What was I thinking?"
Still, I like the story and with over 75,000 words it would be stupid to stop now. It will be done. I dread revising it. But I'll do it.
Truth is, I want to feel better. I feel so bad today that everything seems bleak. I know that's the cold but it really sucks.