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Working it out in the world, and sometimes writing about it.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Writing Part of Writing

Many of you have inquired as to how the writing is going. To this, I say:

1) Thanks for remembering that a large goal of this trip was to write and
2)  Hard to say.

Sometimes I forget that I’m traveling to write. I find myself twisted in museum queues and passing days wandering canal-flanked lanes in search of stroopwaffel, and my pen writes nary a word.

I haven’t yet found the proper balance of traveling and writing. I think I’m secretly hoping that there’s some mathematical equation that will yield the proper answer.


I doubt it exists.

The blog has been doing a good job of keeping me honest and productive. However, it’s not really the type of writing that I usually do. It’s been turning to that direction, but it’s still a bit, well, superficial. Some posts I’ve actually been quite happy with. Others—less.

And so, the second part of my trip will be traveling, yes, but with more of a focus on the writing. I think this will get me in a good habit so that when I come home, I’m used to writing every day. Even if it’s a shitty first draft (Anne Lamott is a badass, and you should totally read her piece “Shitty First Drafts” if you have ever—even once—written something and immediately deleted it because you thought it was terrible http://www.orcutt.net/othercontent/sfds.pdf).

Here’s to: traveling+writing= !

1 comment:

Valorie said...

Thanks for the pointer to "Shitty First Drafts". It's an eloquent way of saying what I've always felt but I've usually allowed my perfectism to keep from giving myself permission.

Sometimes, you just have to write and see what you end up with!

Sounds like you are having the time of your life - and the experiences of your life, too. Portugal, Oslo, Italy and now Ireland? Pretty cool :-)