Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sisyphus, Hemingway, and 115 Pages

For several days I have felt like Sisyphus. 

Again with the hills!
I have pushed my rock up the hill...then watched it roll back down.  I have reclaimed my rock and began again, and again, and again.  I keep repeating the unceasing task of finishing this novel. 

The past several days, I have stuggled to eke out a page, a paragraph...hell, even a decent sentence...worthy of the story that I have in my head.  To compensate for the lack of output, I have sketched out maps, staged future scenes, and made notes of impending action. 

Then FINALLY, last night, the words came...they poured onto the page.  I felt giddy and relieved and eager to keep working.  But I heeded the advice of Hemingway:  “The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you’re rewriting a novel you will never be stuck.”  I stopped.  I scrawled the date to indicate what I had accomplished for the day, and I went to bed.

Today I hope to write over my lunch hour, and also to write tonight...when the children are asleep and the house is quiet.  I will make a cup of tea, perhaps light a candle, and I will take out my newly sharpened pencils and tuck my feet under me as I settle down to see what happens.  Perhaps the Muse will come, or perhaps I will pick up my rock again.  Either way, I will continue. 

July looms on the horizon...closer than I can dare imagine in this harsh light of winter, but there all the same; it waits for me.   

5 comments:

  1. You will prevail. You always do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aw, thanks! I appreciate you being here, Jacquee. It really means a lot to me. More than you can imagine. I hope that you will read it when it is completed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm pushing my rock, too. Just trying to keep my head "in story" so it keeps progressing. "Again with the hills!" Love it. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Never heard that piece of advice before, but it sounds good.

    Keep pushing the rock and you will win.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have to tell you, I love the support and comments I am getting. It also is helping that I have people to "answer to." I want to be able to report back with my progress, my growing page count, my ideas! It means a lot to me that you have all taken the time to check in on my progress and keep encouraging me!

    ReplyDelete