Classical Music Breeds Creativity

Along with my daily dose of NPR, I have been listening to a lot of classical music in my car lately. I have been doing this for the sole purpose of further fanning the flames of my creativity, and it definitely works. My wallet is growing thick with story ideas. So much so, that it is reaching Costanza proportions and is giving me back problems! If you are in the NYC metro area, pop on 96.3. When I hear the sweet, dark sounds of a Tchaikovsky nocturne, I no longer feel the stale heat of the asphalt labyrinth I am forced to drive through every day. Or maybe it's just the air conditioning . . .

Caught in the Momemt

I did 635 words tonight. It is not perfect, but it ends my dry spell. I was writing away tonight and was amusing myself by creating a colorful new character when I realized that it was the second BLIND character I had created. I dutifully gave the second character her sight back and went on. However, it is interesting how a writer can get caught in the moment, in the present I should say, and have no consideration for the past or future of his or her story. I once heard that Stpehen King killed the little boy in Cujo without meaning to. I have never read that story so I do not know if he left it that way and that is how the book ends or whether he went back and rewrote it to give the book a happy ending. The point is, he got so wrapped up in his story that he killed a character without meaning to. Scary.

Sleep is the Key

I am now convinced that getting a good night's sleep is the key to an active writing life. I have been getting horrible sleep the past few nights and have been writing horribly small amounts of text. Last night, I typed two sentences, then read everything I had written over the past few weeks, then formatted it. Talk about procrastinating. It gets worse. Then, I chose to watch a Simpson's rerun (an episode which I have on DVD and could watch any time) and fell asleep about 10 minutes in. I got 2 1/2 hours of restless sleep on a cramped loveseat before finally dragging myself upstairs and allowing myself the comforts of a proper bed. But, I guess today is another day.

I'm Fixing a Hole

I'm in a rut. I'm time starved. I'm discombobulated. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm staring at a blank page. I'm even too tired to read. Still reading the First Five Pages. Also, started Speak, Memory by Nabokov. My head hurts.

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month. Participants are challenged to write the first draft of a novel in a month. This, of course, will be a first draft, with no chance for revision along the way. Registration begins on October 1, but check out the site now to see what they are all about. You will be able to get the support of other writers as you write your own fast first draft.