Sunday 9 November 2008

What to do on wet Sunday afternoons

It's what I've wanted for weeks - time to write. Can't cut the hedge, too skint to buy petrol, a walk would be wet and miserable. I have all afternoon to write.
So what do I do?
I mess about all afternoon on my blog; changing colours, altering the links, making lists... I suppose the little editor who sits in my brain is subtly telling me something about my current project, whispering something along the lines of: Mike, your plot sucks!
Well that's okay. As Mur Lafferty often says (you know Mur?) "You are allowed to suck." This is one of the great empowering mantras a writer can have.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SUCK.
It means ignore the problems, ignore the wooden characters, ignore the bad science... just get the damn thing down on paper, then you can sort it all out later. Because right up until the time you feel ready to put a stamp on the envelope and send it out there, it is fine if it sucks, because only you will ever know.
So enough of the blog. Enough procrastination. It's time for discipline; time to get back to the plot that sucks.
Oh wait there, it's 16:45. My turn to cook the tea tonight. Doh...

5 comments:

Unknown said...

All manner of distractions have kept from my bad plotting and crap writing today - just discovered Monkey Football (oh dear).

Jon M said...

Blogging is the siren of the writing seas, the ultimate displacement activity cos it feels like writing but your story never gets finished!

Mjke Wood said...

I'm almost afraid to ask, Minx, but what's Monkey Football? (see it's already Tuesday. I've stayed away from the blog for a whole 18hrs)

Unknown said...

There is a lot to be said about writers and the art of procrastination! ;-)

doctawho42 said...

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SUCK.
Oh thank god.