Whoa I love that paragraph from Napolitano. Thank you for sharing it. That really resonates for me right now as I’m trying not to get stuck in an offkilter place while querying. To just show up and meet a small word count every day is reminding me how much I enjoy simply writing and working on an essay or a poem. Also want to say I like this idea of the process log. I use a writing process journal which I learned about an interview from Ruth Ozeki and I have my madwomen writers try as a practice. It’s been so helpful to me, especially in times when I feel really stuck mentally to just open it up and write in there as a kind of a brain dump about what I’m thinking about my writing specifically and then I start to make lists and then I eventually get writing… but I need to do more of leaving a breadcrumb after a session and capturing those ideas still in my head afterward. A writer friend was just telling me that she read something Lydia Davis said once about how she never goes right into anything intellectually challenging directly after a writing session because that’s often when the good ideas come. So she does something mindless like washing dishes or going for a walk because then she works out problems. So it’s like this idea of leaving an empty space…
It's as if Ann Napolitano spoke my words. And what you too say Nancy, yes, the ghosts of publication, approval, always looms around. To even confidently say you are a writer seems difficult. Thank you for voicing our thoughts.
I'm so glad this resonated with you. I tend to collect pieces like this — they're reminders that however we're feeling about our writing, we're not alone.
When I was writing my dissertation, I’d sit down at my desk first thing when I got up—I wouldn’t even put my contacts in!—and write with the kind of focus and urgency that comes with hunger. Sometimes I’d only have half an hour before I had to head to campus to teach, but sometimes a couple hours, and always it felt like bonus time that I was stealing from other responsibilities. Often I’d come back to my desk having forgotten that I’d written earlier, and so was further along than I remembered! First thing in the morning writing is still some of my best and favorite writing time.
Such a good reminder here to stick with what works. Thank you for the gorgeous lightbulb image, too💡
I had one of those moments Ann Napolitano writes of this morning, where through writing an internal light was switched on and made me glow, in my studio, the coffee going cold. I only wrote one sentence I was pleased with, but I felt alive and buzzy and more myself, ready to face the day. Publication, approval, proving my detractors wrong - these too have been fuel for my engine in the past. But today I had that little glimmer and glow that Napolitano speaks of and now I am craving it again. I’ll be back for more tomorrow. In time perhaps it will be my main fuel source ☺️
Whoa I love that paragraph from Napolitano. Thank you for sharing it. That really resonates for me right now as I’m trying not to get stuck in an offkilter place while querying. To just show up and meet a small word count every day is reminding me how much I enjoy simply writing and working on an essay or a poem. Also want to say I like this idea of the process log. I use a writing process journal which I learned about an interview from Ruth Ozeki and I have my madwomen writers try as a practice. It’s been so helpful to me, especially in times when I feel really stuck mentally to just open it up and write in there as a kind of a brain dump about what I’m thinking about my writing specifically and then I start to make lists and then I eventually get writing… but I need to do more of leaving a breadcrumb after a session and capturing those ideas still in my head afterward. A writer friend was just telling me that she read something Lydia Davis said once about how she never goes right into anything intellectually challenging directly after a writing session because that’s often when the good ideas come. So she does something mindless like washing dishes or going for a walk because then she works out problems. So it’s like this idea of leaving an empty space…
It's as if Ann Napolitano spoke my words. And what you too say Nancy, yes, the ghosts of publication, approval, always looms around. To even confidently say you are a writer seems difficult. Thank you for voicing our thoughts.
I'm so glad this resonated with you. I tend to collect pieces like this — they're reminders that however we're feeling about our writing, we're not alone.
When I was writing my dissertation, I’d sit down at my desk first thing when I got up—I wouldn’t even put my contacts in!—and write with the kind of focus and urgency that comes with hunger. Sometimes I’d only have half an hour before I had to head to campus to teach, but sometimes a couple hours, and always it felt like bonus time that I was stealing from other responsibilities. Often I’d come back to my desk having forgotten that I’d written earlier, and so was further along than I remembered! First thing in the morning writing is still some of my best and favorite writing time.
Such a good reminder here to stick with what works. Thank you for the gorgeous lightbulb image, too💡
Oh that kind of writing is just magic ✨
I had one of those moments Ann Napolitano writes of this morning, where through writing an internal light was switched on and made me glow, in my studio, the coffee going cold. I only wrote one sentence I was pleased with, but I felt alive and buzzy and more myself, ready to face the day. Publication, approval, proving my detractors wrong - these too have been fuel for my engine in the past. But today I had that little glimmer and glow that Napolitano speaks of and now I am craving it again. I’ll be back for more tomorrow. In time perhaps it will be my main fuel source ☺️
Oh I love it. It's so wonderful to have that reminder — even just every once in a while is enough to keep you going ❤️