Sean Lovelace—
How long can you comfortably go without writing (drafting/revising/working your words)? Or: How many days before you feel the tingle/heat/flutter/gnaw/hiss/urge?
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Meta
I’m into about a month right now. feels good.
My desk is a cluttered mess and I rarely finish what I start so I’m continually writing fragments that maybe someday will come together. The gnawing comes from actually wanting to put them together. Some days I give in. Most days I don’t. I find that writing poetry satisfies the urge temporarily and I have amassed quite a number of poems (only a small percentage are decent enough to get typed, revised, and submitted to journals).
I have gone days, but that doesn’t mean I don’t spend those days not thinking about what I’m going to write. Daydreaming can be quite arduous. The “tingle” is constant.
The longer I’m away the harder it is to get back in. I try to bang on my keyboard daily even if it goes terribly. It’s like running a slow, ungainly mile in a week of training.
Writing, forever. But if I don’t step in the studio I feel uncomfortable in about a day.
Months. And then suddenly, I have to, every day.
Me too. The “suddenly, I have to, every day” periods are my happiest.
I used to get the gnawing, and if I would stay away for a long time it would seem harder to get back in, but I now no longer feel those things. I’m so used to the dreamish mental state I get in when I write that I’ve sat back down after a month of not writing and been right back at it.
yeah i think its healthy to spend long amounts of time not writing and just reading a lot. i go through multi-month periods of not writing and end up kind of re-organizing my thoughts about literature and art.
i write every day. somedays are good. somedays are bad. but i write every day.
Does anyone feel reading is writing? I’m serious.
A couple of weeks and I start getting anxious. Sean: yes.
no. they are separate things.
SOMETIMES ZZZIPP THINKS IT IS SEAN
No, but if the question were about reading, I’d say every single day. Of my whole life, I think.
Yup. And I can only produce good work then. I know it works to write every day for some, but if I force it, I mostly produce junk.
Hey Gila boy, that tingle will be with you for years. You shouldn’t go around letting guys make you do those things for them.
I’m into about a month right now. feels good.
My desk is a cluttered mess and I rarely finish what I start so I’m continually writing fragments that maybe someday will come together. The gnawing comes from actually wanting to put them together. Some days I give in. Most days I don’t. I find that writing poetry satisfies the urge temporarily and I have amassed quite a number of poems (only a small percentage are decent enough to get typed, revised, and submitted to journals).
I have gone days, but that doesn’t mean I don’t spend those days not thinking about what I’m going to write. Daydreaming can be quite arduous. The “tingle” is constant.
The longer I’m away the harder it is to get back in. I try to bang on my keyboard daily even if it goes terribly. It’s like running a slow, ungainly mile in a week of training.
Writing, forever. But if I don’t step in the studio I feel uncomfortable in about a day.
Months. And then suddenly, I have to, every day.
Me too. The “suddenly, I have to, every day” periods are my happiest.
I used to get the gnawing, and if I would stay away for a long time it would seem harder to get back in, but I now no longer feel those things. I’m so used to the dreamish mental state I get in when I write that I’ve sat back down after a month of not writing and been right back at it.
yeah i think its healthy to spend long amounts of time not writing and just reading a lot. i go through multi-month periods of not writing and end up kind of re-organizing my thoughts about literature and art.
i write every day. somedays are good. somedays are bad. but i write every day.
Does anyone feel reading is writing? I’m serious.
A couple of weeks and I start getting anxious. Sean: yes.
no. they are separate things.
SOMETIMES ZZZIPP THINKS IT IS SEAN
No, but if the question were about reading, I’d say every single day. Of my whole life, I think.
Yup. And I can only produce good work then. I know it works to write every day for some, but if I force it, I mostly produce junk.
Hey Gila boy, that tingle will be with you for years. You shouldn’t go around letting guys make you do those things for them.
yeah, i think they are the same. sometimes i do them at the same time and sometimes i do one more than the other. lately i’ve taken a break from writing to do more reading, plus life has been crazy lately. since i don’t have much free time, i’d rather spend it reading. but i’ve been filling my notebook with notes and sketches and ideas and such, and that’s part of writing too. after reading that ashbery doesn’t write for six months sometimes, i started feeling okay with not writing every day. but then i’m always writing because i’m always reading or thinking or living life. walking is writing for me, listening to music is writing, eating is writing, talking is definitely writing, as is writing writing and reading writing. conversely, writing is reading and eating is walking and talking is living life, and all of it is good. it’s all good.
I’m perpetually anxious about it, though I go for weeks-months, sometimes (now) :-/
Sean-
I’m curious as to your answer.
yeah, i think they are the same. sometimes i do them at the same time and sometimes i do one more than the other. lately i’ve taken a break from writing to do more reading, plus life has been crazy lately. since i don’t have much free time, i’d rather spend it reading. but i’ve been filling my notebook with notes and sketches and ideas and such, and that’s part of writing too. after reading that ashbery doesn’t write for six months sometimes, i started feeling okay with not writing every day. but then i’m always writing because i’m always reading or thinking or living life. walking is writing for me, listening to music is writing, eating is writing, talking is definitely writing, as is writing writing and reading writing. conversely, writing is reading and eating is walking and talking is living life, and all of it is good. it’s all good.
I’m perpetually anxious about it, though I go for weeks-months, sometimes (now) :-/
Sean-
I’m curious as to your answer.
There are two issues: when I have the urge to write again, and when I become an anxious wreck because I’m not moving forward and writing. The former can be months; the latter is about 20 hours.
There are two issues: when I have the urge to write again, and when I become an anxious wreck because I’m not moving forward and writing. The former can be months; the latter is about 20 hours.