I was listening to this earlier, from Melanie.  Who is now an old lady and has had a lifetime to think about this since Woodstock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIt4PqlhKh4&feature=related

It struck me that a great deal of what we do, as writers, with first drafts, tinkering around the edges, and similar 'time wasting' which many non-writers can't understand, is the equivalent to guitar tuning.  Like musicians we need to 'feel' things are right before we can really reach the heights.

There will be times when, like an inspired guitarist with a broken string we can just change our fingering on the fly and carry on, but normally we need the comfort of that reliable repertoire to work with.

And sometimes we have a favourite tale, or tune, which we revisit again and again in slightly different forms.  It may be something of a cliché but we love it, our audiences love it, and it falls comfortably from our fingers whether on strings or keyboard.  In so doing it puts us in the mood to leave the comfort zone and look for something above and beyond the mere repetition of words.

The time will come when you need to step through the curtains, take centre stage, and expose your brainchild to the public.  It's scary and inspiring, all at the same time.

Somewhere in the lyrics of this song there's a line 'I used to do it just for fun'. 

Take care never to lose that fun.  If sometimes you have to fool around for while, pretending to 'tune your guitar' to recapture the fun, then do it.  The world can wait.

Gyppo

Trying to perfect the craft, trying to get a real book out there (and please gods not that cringe-worthy thing I'd rather didn't have my name on it), I did lose the fun. And I stopped writing.

I didn't write for a long time. Meanwhile, I picked up my power tools and created other, more tangible things. A bench, a coat rack, a kitchen... It was good. And I love working with my power tools to create useful stuff. But it wasn't enough. I started singing and playing the piano again, which I hadn't done in a long time either because I lost faith in me.

It wasn't enough. I  missed writing.

So finally I took the plunge and started writing again. And it's so fulfilling. But now, I'm not doing it to get published - or even to get read by others. I'm doing it for me. For fun. For the fulfillment it gives me.

Because it's only when I'm writing that I feel I'm in control. It's the only world where I truly understand the people - because I created them. Finally, I'm fully alive again. And I know I'll never go back to that dark place where I tried to write for anyone but me. I probably won't ever get that masterwork published. I don't even know if I'll get it written. But it doesn't matter anymore. I won't let the joy slip away from me.

Never again.

Writing is good for the soul.

Quote from: Spell Chick on January 20, 2018, 12:06:17 AM
Writing is good for the soul.

It sure is!

Quote from: Dansinger on January 19, 2018, 10:17:06 PM

I'm not doing it to get published - or even to get read by others. I'm doing it for me. For fun. For the fulfillment it gives me.

I don't know if there's a moral to draw from this, but the first book I managed to find a publisher for was the first book I wrote entirely for me.  The first five (I think: it's too long ago to be sure) were written because I thought I knew what publishers wanted and what readers wanted.  They earned me some encouraging noises but no offers.  After that I decided that, if I wasn't going to be able to do this for money, I'd better do it for pleasure, and I wrote a book I wouldn't have written with a view to selling it.  And that's the one that sold.  Go figure.

If there is a lesson to be learned, it's surely that until we please ourselves we haven't much hope of pleasing anyone else.

Keep writing, Dan.  Keep taking pleasure in your writing.  But keep a tiny bit of the dream alive, because you never know...

Jo

What was the main difference with the book you wrote to please yourself? Subject, style, or something else?

Mark

Quote from: Mark Hoffmann on January 20, 2018, 05:22:10 PM
Jo

What was the main difference with the book you wrote to please yourself? Subject, style, or something else?

Mark

I would like to know that too. Please, can you elaborate, Jo?