Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Writerly Wednesday: Becoming Obssesed with Your Project


Well, I've become completely obsessed with the book project. This week, I forced myself to take a little time off to let the thing rest. My fingers have started feeling itchy from the lack of drafting.

I'm filling my time by writing a new book review (Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam), checking in here, and of course, doing my full-time paying job with the middle schoolers. I also called to schedule some overdue appointments and got my car serviced.

"When's the book getting published?" one class asked me today.

"Maybe never," I said, "but creative projects aren't always about the end result. "They're about the process of making the thing."

"You could always make your own book on the internet," one kid said. I appreciated that. I'll consider it when the time comes.

Anyway, I've noticed some side effects of becoming enveloped in a writing project. A big one is that I cannot just read a novel. Instead, I'm constantly thinking about the author's structure. Like, "What is the writer doing here? This is too much 'telling,' and yet, I'm still engaged. How did she make that happen? How is she working the transitions work between narrators? This plot has no action, and yet I can't stop reading. Why? Oh look, another commercial fiction story wrapped up in a bow at the ending! Where's the action on the first page of this one? Why am I bored right here?" And on and on. I guess this is reading like a writer? It's interesting, but it's also gotten a little out of hand.


2 comments:

MQW said...

An interesting comment about reading as a writer. I have begun noticing, when I am reading or most often now listening to a novel, is how the author sets the scene. How she make me see, feel and maybe smell the place the action is in. Before I did not notice this, now I do. Your most recent blog in which you wrote several of these descriptions, makes me notice these. Not distracting and makes me think, my daughter taught me about the need to set the scene. Keep up the momentum! You are doing it! Love, mom

LH said...

When I was in college, I majored in english and always had a pen in my hand when I read. I couldn't read without a pen in my hand for several years after that.

I'm excited about your book. KUDOS!