Friday, April 13, 2012

A to Z Blogger Challenge: Letter L

LETTING GO

When I get the urge to write, it starts as an itch that I can't get rid of until I sit down at my computer. My initial feeling is to pound out the story with reckless abandon. Just thinking about it now makes me absolutely giddy.

But I don't.

I pause and let the feeling of fear overtake me. I think, "What if I write like a crazy person and it sucks? I have to think about what I'm doing. I have to remember everything I've learned and apply it as I'm writing."

These are just a few of my thoughts.

I don't know why the perfectionist in my gets in the way. I know all about editing and how you should write first then think later, but something always stops me. I wonder what would happen if I just let my muse take over? Do you think I should take the plunge and try it?

What about you? Do you LET GO when you're writing...or doing whatever it is that you love? Or are you methodical about the whole process? 

LAGGING BEHIND
I also wanted to take a second and tell all my visitors how sorry I am for not visiting the past couple of days. Between personal issues, hunkering down with beta reads and having a daughter doing rehearsals for two upcoming performances, I have been sucking on returning the visiting love. I do still love you, and I promise to play catch up very soon.

Will you forgive me for LAGGING BEHIND?

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Letting go is such a good thing to practice, in my opinion! It's hard to do most of the time but the result is always beautiful. Good luck with it next time!!

Just a Nice Girl

Jaye Robin Brown said...

You are forgiven for lagging (though I didn't notice). And yes, sometimes that happens for me in writing but I just have to tell myself IT DOESN'T MATTER, it's a first draft. Then I can just be free.

Tasha Seegmiller said...

HA! I'm in charge of Prom, which is tomorrow, and was feeling the exact same way this week. I'm just trying to keep going. We'll do better next week, right :)

Brinda said...

I think you should let go! And your readers still love when you are busy. It's called LIFE.

Loree Huebner said...

Don't worry about lagging behind...just let go!

Unknown said...

I think everyone's beginning to lag behind. There just aren't enough hours in the day. When I get into the writing phase, it just overtakes me. Sometimes it's utter rubbish and sometimes it just works out (mostly it's utter rubbish!)

Unknown said...

I guess I'm a little of both. Some days I'm able to let go, other days I spend fifteen minutes on one sentence. Last month I reached a place while revising a WIP where I stopped and shouted, "Who wrote this?" Not in a good way. But it was not too difficult to fix. ^_^

Cassie Mae said...

I have a hard time letting go of editing Cassie while I draft. You're not alone there. I don't have a solution either, haha. I'm a lot of help. :)

Angela Brown said...

First, you are wholly forgiven for lagging behind. You have a life that you are living...so do I. So actually, nothing to forgive. You'll do what you can when you can and that's all that can (and personally should) be asked of you. There...nothing to forgive.

Now, about letting go. I don't. I should. But I don't. The first time I actually let myself do that was for NaNoWriMo last year. It was exhausting hammering my Inner Editor and sidekick Inner Critic into submission on a daily basis, but I did and it was wonderful tapping away at the keys with reckless abandon. I really should try that more often. But I must find a way to dupe my Inner Critic and Inner Editor into giving me a break.

Cortney Pearson said...

I have a hard time letting go sometimes while writing too! I think it's why I like to draft freehand on a notebook first before transferring it to a computer!

Jasmine Walt said...

I used to be all about letting go, and I'm sort of getting back to it now. My issue is not with the editing nazi that lives inside me, but with my insecurities that the story itself is just no good. One of these days, I'll get over that. :D

Jenny S. Morris said...

I've tried to do both. Let the muse take over, but reign it in when I feel like I'm going to the dark side.

I've a similar week of getting around to blogs. ;0)

Carrie-Anne said...

When I'm really inspired for a story, esp. if it's one of the ones I've had memorized in detail backwards and forwards for years, writing it is the ultimate in letting go. It's like the book is writing me instead of me writing it. Even including the historical aspects as part of the world-building is part of that process, since it just comes naturally to me after being so immersed in my eras of choice for so many years. And if I need to tweak or edit things, that came come later.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

The difference between how you feel when you let go and how you feel when you don't, when you keep that muse tied up, is mind-blowing. You know when you're in the zone and when you're not. Go for the zone! :)

Julie Flanders said...

I love the photo, such a perfect illustration of letting go! And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one lagging behind. I'm having a terrible time keeping up with the challenge this year!

Leslie S. Rose said...

Lagging behind is called Life. I have days of letting go and days of overthinking. I think it has to do with my sugar intake.

Unknown said...

Such a good post and an important topic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and your blog, which I'm now following.

If you've the time, come over to my blog. I'm the award winning author of the Bella and Britt series for kids.

Thanks for sharing.

Stephanie said...

I do plan my writing to some extent. I'll have an idea of what the scene I'm writing is about just to get me started. More often than not that idea goes out the window half way through writing the scene, but the point is, the scene gets written. I pretty much have to write and not look back until I'm done, or I'll never get done.

Botanist said...

I'm afraid I'm a perfectionist, and an insufferable edit-as-I-write kind of person. Letting go just isn't in my vocabulary.

Not as a writer, anyway.