Just Write It

I've always had the intent to be a great writer...but when it comes down to it, I'm not sure I have the patience and fortitude to be truly great. And why should I be? Millions seem to be made from just average effort. For instance, when I read some of the popular chick-lit novels of today, I think, "I could do that in my sleep!" The stories seem so predictable, the characters barely more than two-dimensional stereotypes, and the settings nearly interchangeable. Who couldn't just bang one out, send it to a publisher, and get rich overnight, right???

Well, admittedly, it is a bit more complicated than that. For one thing, you have to actually put the words down on paper. Most of my writing is done in my head while I'm driving, in the shower, or otherwise occupied with something to which I should be giving my 100% attention. And because I have a habit of taking on more than I can realistically handle, I rarely have uninterrupted time to just sit and write. When I finally get to the keyboard, I am so tired I tend to sit and stare at the screen for frustratingly long moments. I'll see something out of the corner of my eye that causes me to move or make a noise, and that usually leads to a dog barking to be let out. Or another tab on my browser will update with a Facebook notification or an e-mail that I simply MUST check before I go on. At that moment, a child will come in and tell me that the other one just ate her granola bar that was meant for school lunches and HOW DARE SHE and can't I go yell at her RIGHT NOW for this grievous injustice???

As you can see it's a little difficult to dedicate time and effort to writing in my typical environment and state of mind.

If I'm lucky, I'll have jotted down a quick idea in a meeting, at church, while at school...anywhere my mind starts to wander. I have started carrying a Moleskin journal in each purse so that I can be ready when that inspiration strikes. In fact, I seem to have no shortage of great first lines and titles. Surely those will carry a full story line through to completion someday. After all, if a two minute Saturday Night Live skit can carry a two- hour movie, why couldn't my pithy penciled observations result in a two hundred page novel on the "Buy One, Get One Half-Off" table at Borders?

Until then, I tend to write brief essays in frenetic spurts of inspiration. When the mood strikes, I find I have to get the words out as quickly as possible before I lose that thought or get dragged away. It's not uncommon for me to have a document open and to be hopping up and down to stir dinner, bark orders at a kid, or to let a dog in or out before running back in to finish a sentence. I often have a list at the bottom of the document that is just a strings of words to remember to address in case I get called away completely. Blogging seems to be the happy medium for a writer like me. No deadlines, no standard word limits, no required commitment. Win, win, win!

And it's a good thing; as I get older, I am beginning to suspect that I have also lived most of my adult life in a state of undiagnosed ADHD. If the idea isn't written down, it's gone forever. If I get stopped mid-essay, it often is left open on the desktop until a forced reboot causes it to be lost in data-space. I've made hypothetical millions off unfulfilled good intentions.

Someday, you might get to purchase my first novel at deep-discount prices. Until then, you can find me here when I feel like it writing what I think is interesting as quickly as I can before someone eats a granola bar.