Well, it has been over a month and a half since the last post, truth be told it's closer to two months, in which I outlined a rather elaborate five point plan for writing. I ended with a Gaping Void comic that posits the challenge "You are either a poet or a corpse." You can see it right below this post. If that is my mantra, and I suppose in some ways it is, then I have been very corpse-like as of late. The best laid plans, etc.
That said, I haven't really been slumping. I have been gathering notes for two, count them two, stories, both of which will factor prominently in the collection that I am putting together. One of the two stories, in fact, will serve as the title story and the other is central to the thematic development I hope to establish within the collection. So I don't feel too out of sorts, I guess.
But the post is still there...taunting me. Which leads me to add on to the five rules I developed in that last post. The sixth rule must be this: cut yourself some slack. Writing is, of course, an active verb, and I would almost whole-heartedly agree that the only way to get better at the craft is by actually practicing it. But, and I've known this forever because my college mentor, Hollis Seamon, used to tell me in every one of the three fiction writing classes I took with her, writing can occur when your brain is just processing information. You almost have to let the experience fit its way into the structure of your memories, the syntax of your life, in order to utilize it in your work. I know it sounds kind of like a cop out, but it really isn't, and it's one thing I hope my students- the serious ones who want to become writers one day- get as they write.
So give yourself some rope, cut yourself some slack, allow yourself some room (and whatever other cliche you want to add (and yes, I do argue against cliche in class, but it works here), and just relax. Rule number six will save you from excessive depression as you write. And that is often the biggest thing you can hope for as a writer.
