Cocooning
[T]his discontent is the basic trait that turns a person into a writer. To become a writer, patience and toil are not enough: we must first feel compelled to escape crowds, company, the stuff of ordinary, everyday life, and shut ourselves up in a room. We wish for patience and hope so that we can create a deep world in our writing. But the desire to shut oneself up in a room is what pushes us into action.
--Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, from his acceptance speech
After six weeks of putting myself "out there," promoting the new book, I'm ready to crawl back into my creative incubator and get some work done. First, the proposal for Wings of Crow, due Friday. Then a madcap two weeks in which I write ten pages a day of anything, anything at all, to make my 250K goal.
I might blog during that time, or maybe not. I haven't felt like it lately, as you can probably tell.
I'm tired of the world outside my head. Because I'm a lousy compartmentalizer, it's encroached too much upon my created worlds. My idle thoughts--while driving, showering, or housecleaning--have been turning to real life issues rather than those of my characters. When I hear a song on the radio, I hear it for me, not my protagonist. And that's just wrong.
So it's into the cocoon, without which there'd be no books and stories to share with you in the first place.
If we don't talk before then, Happy Holidays!
Labels: craft, writing life
5 Comments:
Posted by:
Dave S. at 12/12/2006 9:20 AM
My second favorite was "Fantasy #48."
The permanent link to the complete archived story is here. The links on my Home page, Books page, etc., are also updated.
Posted by:
Jeri at 12/12/2006 9:32 AM
You're too young to go into the coccoon! You'll come out, like, four years old!
Posted by:
Rob S. at 12/12/2006 10:01 AM
Posted by:
Unknown at 12/12/2006 9:39 PM
Posted by:
Jeri at 12/13/2006 9:37 AM
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