One of the weird things about writing (or about any creative endeavor, I suppose) is how non-forceable it is. I just jammed out about 5,000 words - which is a lot - including a minor character and plot twist that I never intended but which fits into the story perfectly. It's a well-encapsulated scene which helps move the story along just the way I want. And I didn't really plan any of it. It just kind of...happened.
Kind of like how an artist can just suddenly throw out a great painting, or all of the sudden an ad guy can come up with the perfect slogan. It's just there all of the sudden.
Now see, a non-creative endeavor is totally different. I needed to do our taxes, and I'd been putting it off. But that's a forceable action: all I needed to do was sit down with the paperwork and TurboTax, and then get them done. And sure enough, a couple of hours later - boom. It's done. All I needed to do was force myself to do it.
If I sit down to force myself to write, though. I end up with nothing. Or worse than nothing: forced product, which is never as good. It's strange.
And it's strange how other things affect it, too. TV may or may not impact my ability to write. Music may or may not impact my ability to write, or what I write. Location may or may not impact my ability to write. There's no one method to churning out good prose (note: if you think all my prose sucks, don't tell me).
I'm just blathering, though. Really I'm just happy to have moved closer to the end of Gob Squad.
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