“What amazes me is that most days feel useless. I don't seem
to accomplish anything-just a few pages, most of which don't seem very good.
Yet, when I put all those wasted days together, I somehow end up with a book of
which I'm very proud.” - Louis Sachar
I have stared at this quote for several minutes now. After a week, 68 pages, and over 25,000 words, I'm finding it difficult to go on.
See, I'm a sprinter.
I like big results in a short amount of time. I like the payoff to be huge, but I don't like to wait for that payoff. If I cannot see the finish line, I don't want to run it.
Impatience, I think, but it's more than that. I lack mental stamina, and that is what writing takes.
Breakthrough: this is why I have never, ever, finished anything longer than a poem. I have - let's count them - seventeen (17!!!) novels started on my computer and/or phone app. That does not count the three story starts I have in two separate notebooks or the countless journals I have kept with similar beginnings but no endings.
So I look to this quote again and I know I have some good writing, some great ideas and some beautifully-turned phrases just begging to have a moment in the sun, for me to be proud of their collective souls.
I have to train to be a marathoner though. These sprints are getting tiresome, and I'm expending too much energy trying to get out of the gate and not saving my spirit for the rest of the long race.
This is where my training begins. It's a promise to myself and to the words who want to meet one another as we all reach for that finish line together.
No comments:
Post a Comment