Friday 5 April 2013

You Pedal And You Pedal And You Pedal...


Ever feel like that?

You pedal and you pedal and you pedal... maybe you pedal some more, perhaps a little more after that. But eventually, finally, you get tired. You have to stop. Of course you do. It's wearing and wearying and it takes up all your energy.

If you're not getting anywhere, that is.

If you're going nowhere after all that pedalling, it's not only tiring, it's frustrating and it's saddening and it feels like a waste of time.

It can put you off pedalling completely.

You'll sit on that bike, push one foot down with a sigh that hurts, and wonder why you're bothering. Then you'll stop and it'll feel good. Really good. It'll feel so good that you won't want to start again, and you'll continue your life without any pedalling at all, and you won't mind.

Ever feel like that?

I do. Stories stick and chapters freeze, and when they do I keep writing because I feel guilty if I don't. I keep typing one word after another, and it's wearing and wearying and I know I'm not getting anywhere. I know I'll just delete the words and replace them with fresh ones, or I'll forget about it all together and consign it to the story graveyard of my hard drive. Not a great feeling, but a familiar one.

And it feels good to give up sometimes. It's better for you, and for the story. Sometimes stories are just no good, and that's okay because we're not perfect, and not everything we do is brilliant or worthy of publication.

Not everything we do is going to be our best work. It doesn't work like that - after all, how can you have best if you don't have worst? There has to be something to compare it to!

Leave it long enough, though, and I have a feeling you'll get back on that bike, and you'll pedal again. Leave it long enough, and I have a feeling you'll get somewhere.

Don't push your writing - it's no good for anyone. Enjoy it, and the words will flourish.



2 comments:

  1. Hmm? Thanks, Lisamarie. Usually it has nothing to do with writing, but instead the promotion that feels like there will always be 600k books in front of mine. *sigh* Thanks for the pep-talk.

    -Jimmy

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  2. Just reminded me, to stop banging my head over this one cruddy story, when I have a great kid's book to finish. You know how you're peddling in one direction and then someone stops you by waving, and you talk to them a while and forget where you were going in the first place, and your bike has turned and you end up wasting time peddling down to a dead end?

    That happens to me.

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