The daily writing practice continues (I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s more practice than exercise.) I was a bit frustrated with it this morning. I think I need to change how I’m approaching it.
The prompt this morning was “Every morning. . .” I ended up writing about Frank and his morning ritual of coffee, his cat Chloe, and the internet, reading the news and petting the cat. Then the light burned out above his desk and so he had to end his routine early. Of course the day went to hell. Then the piece took a turn — Frank couldn’t find Chloe that night. By the end, Frank was starting to realize that Chloe only existing in the mornings, for that ritual quiet time, and the rest of the time he actually didn’t have a cat.
I felt frustrated with my writing practice this morning. I knew what I wanted to do, but just seemed unable to do it. While it’s been good to do the timed prompts, to get that flow going again, to completely turn off the editor, I also need to be able to slow down sometimes. I don’t feel I can do that when I’m working under a time deadline like I have been — I want to get to the end of the story. So I’m going to sit down this weekend and play with words — play with images and sensual detail. Maybe start with another writing prompt (there are some in the book that aren’t related to the daily ones) but not do a timed writing.
I think, for me, that there has to be a balance between weighing every word and this free-flow that I’ve been doing with the timed prompts. Tomorrow I’m going to try to slow down some. The book I’m using says to just keep writing, and write for the whole time. I can do that — have been doing that. But that isn’t really writing for me. It isn’t just the words, and the flow of words, but the *right* words.