Again with the Morning Thing!?
An update on my recent efforts to get up at 5 am and write brilliant original fiction:
It's going pretty well - the 5 am part, not necessarily the brilliant fiction part. Some days its more like 5:30 (so don't be too impressed, Jessie), and some days it's more like 8. But out of the past week or so that I've been doing this, I've managed to get up 6 out of 8 days. This ain't bad, considering there isn't a fire or a paycheck involved, both of which qualify as good reasons to get out of bed (well, paycheck depending on the job).
I am writing this cool story that sort of came out of the dark (literally) at me. Before, a couple years ago, when I was doing the early morning write, every morning I would write something new. A couple pages of dreamland, a bizarre scene straight out of the depths of my brain. Then the next day it was something else. But this time around, something different is happening. I'm working on the same story every morning.
I think part of me is afraid, since it was conceived this way, that if I try to bring it out into the daylight before it is done it will vanish. Or, more realistically, that I won't be able to duplicate the style of the earlier pages unless I am in the same state of mind. I worry about trying to write it during the day, or the evening, or late at night. It is a pre-dawn story, and I don't want to break the spell.
I read J what I had written after he woke up the other morning, and he told me he thinks its the best stuff I've ever written. He said that it's like the stuff you read in a book, a published book, a book you buy (I'm paraphrasing here, J, it was early, give me a break). Although I can't remember what it is he said exactly, this is what it meant to me. I hug that compliment and save it - it's a good one.
So this early thing is okay. And a side benefit of rising early is I that every morning I have a choice. After a few hours of writing I can: 1) crawl back into my flannel-licious bed and cozy up to a snuggly sleeping J or 2) keep writing, and revel in the fact that, when you get up early, the days are so very long.
It's going pretty well - the 5 am part, not necessarily the brilliant fiction part. Some days its more like 5:30 (so don't be too impressed, Jessie), and some days it's more like 8. But out of the past week or so that I've been doing this, I've managed to get up 6 out of 8 days. This ain't bad, considering there isn't a fire or a paycheck involved, both of which qualify as good reasons to get out of bed (well, paycheck depending on the job).
I am writing this cool story that sort of came out of the dark (literally) at me. Before, a couple years ago, when I was doing the early morning write, every morning I would write something new. A couple pages of dreamland, a bizarre scene straight out of the depths of my brain. Then the next day it was something else. But this time around, something different is happening. I'm working on the same story every morning.
I think part of me is afraid, since it was conceived this way, that if I try to bring it out into the daylight before it is done it will vanish. Or, more realistically, that I won't be able to duplicate the style of the earlier pages unless I am in the same state of mind. I worry about trying to write it during the day, or the evening, or late at night. It is a pre-dawn story, and I don't want to break the spell.
I read J what I had written after he woke up the other morning, and he told me he thinks its the best stuff I've ever written. He said that it's like the stuff you read in a book, a published book, a book you buy (I'm paraphrasing here, J, it was early, give me a break). Although I can't remember what it is he said exactly, this is what it meant to me. I hug that compliment and save it - it's a good one.
So this early thing is okay. And a side benefit of rising early is I that every morning I have a choice. After a few hours of writing I can: 1) crawl back into my flannel-licious bed and cozy up to a snuggly sleeping J or 2) keep writing, and revel in the fact that, when you get up early, the days are so very long.
Labels: writing
posted by erin | 8:12 AM
2 Comments:
I could not do that. I just couldn't. I would die.
This would be one of the many reasons that I am grateful that my creative talent is my voice.
You get a singer up and singing at 5 am there is a good chance they'll damage something in their apparatus. Which is just fine with me!
:D Clap, clap, clap for you and your dedication!
yummy, luscious words! i loved reading this...especially your options for the rest of the day. ;)
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