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roachboy · 11-05-2010, 01:06 PM

i'd second everything bg just said.

a while ago i decided to take back my writing from academic-ese as part of my 12-step reforming program. i used the journals at tfp as a big part of that process because they were easier for me to write in than a paper journal was---never could get with that in part because i couldn't figure out who i was talking to---the idea that a few people might plausibly read what i was writing erased that bind.

learning how to write when you've got nothing to say is a good thing. it's part of building the routine.

my ex is a poet--a really good one no less----and from hanging around her and from my own experience with sound, i figured that what matters really is the doing more than the what is done, so that you write stuff more than what you write.

what i figured out is that (for me anyway) writing is mostly about a routine---setting one up and protecting it, keeping it going. over time, what you make inside that routine will change and things can start happening that never would have crossed your mind outside that space of routine doing.

so far as what you make is concerned, it's like anything else, yes? some things work better than others and some stuff sucks. the stuff that sucks i try to catch and squirrel away on my hard-drive for sometimes later when i remember it and do something else with it. very few things suck so completely that they can't be plundered. so that's the other thing: save everything.

o yeah---if you write in the morning it's easier to plunder your dreams i find. alot of what i'm playing with now comes out of sliding along these curious seams in your sense of the world that float about until the 2nd or 3rd cup of coffee hits.

i like editing, too. but that's another story.

and let yourself have fun with it. constraints are generative. having a deadline--particularly an arbitrary one---is really just a prompt to get you to crank something out. it doesn't have to be a Burden or an Ordeal. it can be playtime. you get to play with word-toys. you can make silly structures with them.

11-05-2010, 01:06 PM	#43 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	i'd second everything bg just said. a while ago i decided to take back my writing from academic-ese as part of my 12-step reforming program. i used the journals at tfp as a big part of that process because they were easier for me to write in than a paper journal was---never could get with that in part because i couldn't figure out who i was talking to---the idea that a few people might plausibly read what i was writing erased that bind. learning how to write when you've got nothing to say is a good thing. it's part of building the routine. my ex is a poet--a really good one no less----and from hanging around her and from my own experience with sound, i figured that what matters really is the doing more than the what is done, so that you write stuff more than what you write. what i figured out is that (for me anyway) writing is mostly about a routine---setting one up and protecting it, keeping it going. over time, what you make inside that routine will change and things can start happening that never would have crossed your mind outside that space of routine doing. so far as what you make is concerned, it's like anything else, yes? some things work better than others and some stuff sucks. the stuff that sucks i try to catch and squirrel away on my hard-drive for sometimes later when i remember it and do something else with it. very few things suck so completely that they can't be plundered. so that's the other thing: save everything. o yeah---if you write in the morning it's easier to plunder your dreams i find. alot of what i'm playing with now comes out of sliding along these curious seams in your sense of the world that float about until the 2nd or 3rd cup of coffee hits. i like editing, too. but that's another story. and let yourself have fun with it. constraints are generative. having a deadline--particularly an arbitrary one---is really just a prompt to get you to crank something out. it doesn't have to be a Burden or an Ordeal. it can be playtime. you get to play with word-toys. you can make silly structures with them. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 11-05-2010 at 01:09 PM..