I spoke about getting your muse on in an early post, but what happens if the writing ideas are flowing like a faucet? Is it cool to take up your days and nights with unlimited, unleashed writing.
My thought on this is no. There are a few times when I will have, what seems like, an infinite resource of writing ideas to source from. If I get carried away and just write and write and write, sometimes the work starts to suffer a lot. The one good thing about writer’s block is it gives me a chance to reread my work, edit it, and think about what I don’t like and do like about my style. It makes me think about where I should try to go with my style. It even makes me wonder if I should change my style often.
Having a fountain pen full of ideas that just spill out all over the place is great, but it’s messy. Right now, I’ve found my muse, and I’m starting to write, write, write, but I’ve set a limit for myself. There’s a maximum daily quantity that I allow myself to write. That amount of time is different for everyone, but I need time to sit down and reflect on the work I’ve written. As much as I think I’m great at writing when the words are coming out, reading something two or three days later can really make me wonder what I was thinking.
My advise is to write everyday, but take time to read and edit everyday also. It makes my work better and easier to follow, and I hope it will do the same for you.
I think value can be found in the write-til-you-drop approach, which is to blast away until you get to the end and then go back to see what’s good. At least, I don’t usually edit anything until I complete a full draft.
On the other hand, I’ve had those days when I wrote past the point I should have stopped and ended up choosing a bad or lazy direction. I’ve also hunkered down and written 40-page stories that didn’t work on any level.
I appear to be arguing with myself. Ignore me.
You make a good point. There is no perfect formula for every writer. Certainly, if writing until you drop works, go crazy with it. For me, it tends to be chaos at the best of times. I guess the message here is recognize yourself and stop when you have to.
I tend to throw a million words at the page, and then go back and cut most of them. I figure the rhythm and poetry are in there somewhere. Sometimes they’re not.
Learning how different people use such varied methods with the same craft is one of the more interesting things about the blogging experience.