Sunday 6 July 2014

Well, that went as planned didn't it? No.

Hi there,

First of all, apologies.

I was intending to post more content up and regularly but I have no idea what happened..well, that's a lie. Its almost been two years since my last post and the only excuse I have is that I needed to feed myself. I'm still a NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) five days a week, but in the least, I won't starve anymore..I hope. But I digress, rant and complain. Forgive me.

I was hoping to craft a novel from scratch with the idea I had, but it all went down with a crash.

Talk about epic fail.

But to be honest, I should have seen it coming.

There was no plan, no research, no notes - just the synopsis and idea I had for a story. Right now, you're probably thinking, "Derr...". Don't get me wrong, an 'idea' is all one needs to go off and write, but for a full length novel with any quality (for me at least) should have some kind of structure or backbone to guide my hand and my mind. I guess I needed some questions answered, such as where I wanted the story to go; what will happen in the chapters; when or will there be conflict, character development, resolution or crisis; were there any themes or ideas I want to touch on; setting; historical ties...that kind of thing.

Instead, I pretty much steam rolled into it on a whim, paving the road as I went. Tend to do that sometimes...As a result, I only half finish things, leave them hanging or put them aside, as all my initial motivations have been exhausted and writer's block sets in. 

In other words, I ran out of juice. Quick smart too. However, it's not all bad. I'm not trying to justify it to myself or anything, but..but...some pretty nice ideas have come from this as well. Yes, they need a little more polishing. Huh! Who am I kidding. Lots and lots of polishing, but they are like uncut gems, I just know it! xP 

Anyway.

I suppose how people write will differ from person to person, as would their writing style, where they draw their energy from and so on. Finding out what motivates YOU to write is quite important. I say this because I believe that if you know your weaknesses and your strengths a bit better, you will then be able to use some strategies to manage stress levels, maintain your momentum once you've hit your sweet spot or how to pick yourself up when you've fallen into a slump. 

For me, I know myself to be someone who knows what I should be doing and how I should do it, but what I lack is the action part. Procrastination? Yes, I do that a lot too, and that's just a polite way to say that I'm lazy. That's what I've learned about myself. Now comes that stage of devising strategies that will un-dig me from the hole I've put myself in. 

If you hear from me again soon...you'll know I've been successful. xD

Agree or disagree with what I'm saying? Feel free to leave a comment!

Cheers,
  - eenh