Bonnie's excuse of the week
Saturday, January 17, 2009
When the temperature in Toronto is colder than the coast of the Beaufort Sea (near Alaska), you know that it's time to stop the BBQ. Brr! But blaming the weather isn't what my excuse for this week is about.
"It's too hard."
Can you tell where I'm at in my current WIP? The weather isn't the only thing that's cold around here. The poor Word file is in hibernation.
Well, there are times while on the journey toward accomplishing something that the goal can seem too overwhelming, challenging or simply impossible. And this is when a lot of people give up. Or are really tempted to.
I know, in my case, what normally gets me is a failure to plan or comprehend the amount of time I'll need to dedicate to a task. An excellent example of this is a beautiful needlepoint kit that sat in my craft box for seven years.
Do I have needlepoint experience? Nope. But it looked real pretty, so I bought the package, took it home, and then realized that I needed something called a loom and a needle or two. So I got those too. Without even opening up the pattern, I knew I was in trouble.
Still, I kept it all, just in case the ability to needlepoint perfectly or have the time to do it suddenly appeared. The few times that I'd open the craft box and see it, a little tingle of guilt would hit me as I thought of the money spent on the kit and accessories -- and how well it all collected dust.
What stopped me from picking up the needle? Knowing that I was already in over my head.
I donated the kit to charity before Christmas lat year. Hopefully someone out there is putting it to good use.
And I think that's what's been happening in my novel lately. I'm staring at the pages and not looking ahead. Actually, I'm more focused on the front cover -- or the thought of writing this book. My characters are there, but busy with discussions about cheese and how cold it is outside. This isn't the stuff that captivating stories are made of. (If they are, feel free to let me know.)
If I were mountain climbing instead of writing, I could be hanging off a cliff or surrounded by wolves; my compass, map and trail mix would still be at home. Or at the camping goods store.
So yeah, things are hard to do, but they're even harder to do when you don't have a plan, recipe or outline. While we might not be able to plot out all points in the journey towards success, it helps to know which small steps will bring us closer to it.
How do you deal with a goal that seems too huge to accomplish?
"It's too hard."
Can you tell where I'm at in my current WIP? The weather isn't the only thing that's cold around here. The poor Word file is in hibernation.
Well, there are times while on the journey toward accomplishing something that the goal can seem too overwhelming, challenging or simply impossible. And this is when a lot of people give up. Or are really tempted to.
I know, in my case, what normally gets me is a failure to plan or comprehend the amount of time I'll need to dedicate to a task. An excellent example of this is a beautiful needlepoint kit that sat in my craft box for seven years.
Do I have needlepoint experience? Nope. But it looked real pretty, so I bought the package, took it home, and then realized that I needed something called a loom and a needle or two. So I got those too. Without even opening up the pattern, I knew I was in trouble.
Still, I kept it all, just in case the ability to needlepoint perfectly or have the time to do it suddenly appeared. The few times that I'd open the craft box and see it, a little tingle of guilt would hit me as I thought of the money spent on the kit and accessories -- and how well it all collected dust.
What stopped me from picking up the needle? Knowing that I was already in over my head.
I donated the kit to charity before Christmas lat year. Hopefully someone out there is putting it to good use.
And I think that's what's been happening in my novel lately. I'm staring at the pages and not looking ahead. Actually, I'm more focused on the front cover -- or the thought of writing this book. My characters are there, but busy with discussions about cheese and how cold it is outside. This isn't the stuff that captivating stories are made of. (If they are, feel free to let me know.)
If I were mountain climbing instead of writing, I could be hanging off a cliff or surrounded by wolves; my compass, map and trail mix would still be at home. Or at the camping goods store.
So yeah, things are hard to do, but they're even harder to do when you don't have a plan, recipe or outline. While we might not be able to plot out all points in the journey towards success, it helps to know which small steps will bring us closer to it.
How do you deal with a goal that seems too huge to accomplish?
Labels: excuse of the week
posted by Bonnie Staring at 11:07 PM
2 Comments:
Until you gave the example of your needlepoint project, I hadn't understood what you meant by "It's too hard." Then the lightbulb went on so it was a great analogy.
(And I'm a professional hand embroiderer, LOL.)
It's very easy when writing to get stuck on planning our 'your series' when you haven't even written a word of the first book, or creating generational charts of your characters. But even if your characters are busy having discussions about cheese and how cold it is, just continue writing. Keep pushing forward.
My son has ADD and it was explained to us that when he has two pages of math problems because he sees them ALL and feels overwhelmed. So when he was younger, we had to present his homework to him a question at a time.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by having to write a 'novel', then just start off by writing a short description at the top of your page of the 'scene' you want to write and what it needs to accomplish. Then write the next scene. Then the next. Those 'scenes' will add up and you'll start having a word count.
(Probably would have been the same with the needlepoint project. Start with one stitch, then add another, and another.)
Why am I not surprised that you're an embroidery buff? I think it's the way you craft your words, adding a little color here and then tighten tighten things up there...
And yes, you're totally right. Starting small is the way to go. ;)
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