Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Writing Season Approaches

My wife got a kick out of me saying that it was nearly 'writing season'. The saying is that 'writers write', and I agree with that...mostly. While I agree that it would be ideal to write each and every day, as long as I am not a professional writer, I just don't have the motivation to do so.

Right now -- as an amateur writer -- I enjoy the luxury of spending a long time mulling over my stories. I will go for months simply imagining how the coming chapters might go, and by the time I do get around to writing them, they tend to flow very quickly. The long portion of my work in progress was all done in about two months last year, during writing season of course. I would have gotten more done if my family hadn't had to move from Azerbaijan to Hungary, with a long stop in the US in between.

I don't worry about needing to develop better writing habits, because I know from experience that I'm a person who works well with an official deadline. In other words, if I owe new books to a publishing company by a certain date, I know I can produce. When I don't have an official deadline, I prefer procrastination.

I call the coming spring 'writing season' since it is the time of year that offers the fewest distractions. During the fall the NFL season kicks off, and I just love NFL football and NCAA basketball. Well, football is over, and NCAA basketball ends in a couple of weeks. That means it is nearly writing season again!

11 comments:

  1. I like your sports reasoning for writing season! Hockey will still be in session, but baseball definitely doesn't interfere with writing.
    I tend to mull over my story and outline for a long time before writing. I wonder what that means?

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  2. I think as amateurs we have the luxury of pondering our stories to our heart's content, while pros have to meet strict deadlines. I don't care for hockey or NBA or baseball, so those seasons don't affect me!

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  3. March Madness ended when Missouri failed abysmally. I have blocked the rest of the contest from my mind to dull the pain.

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  4. Hey, my team (Arizona) failed to beat a mediocre Colorado team to even make the tourney!

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  5. I understand exactly what you mean. Baseball is so slow, I can easily write with a game on on mute in the background.

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  6. Sweet. It's great to have seasons in your life that you look forward to. May the coming writing season be a productive one.

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  7. I like your logic. Being an 'amateur' writer gives you a kind of freedom and enjoyability that getting serious will take away.
    The sports references were lost on me though; try as I might my brain doesn't allow space for physical activity, even as a spectator.

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  8. What? Isn't baseball season starting and the Olympics are this summer.
    I write more during certain seasons also but those deadlines are the best motivations.

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  9. True, there is a luxury to being an amateur.

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  10. heeheehee!
    love your reasoning...
    but
    this whole post i kept thinking
    "writing season is coming"
    in the same ominous tone as they say
    "winter is coming"

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  11. LOl; I do that with some of the TV series I watch. My writer's group forces me to produce sometimes, but I get on a roll, and then procrastinate also for a while.

    Its worked out ok, but I haven't got a novel published yet. Well, someday . .

    ........dhole

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