I’m not much of a drinker but I figured I would have a few drinks with a few authors. The bar was packed with alcoholics but we managed to find an empty table. The smell of beer filled the air and the table was sticky. We sat down and the first row was ordered.
Dominique: I just don’t understand how you guys enjoy writing, every time that I go to write I just don’t know where to start.
Carloyn: You see, I can’t switch from life mode to writer mode. Usually it take me three days to get into the writer mode. Three days of quiet non-life mode, lot of coffee and no interruptions.
Dominique: Coffee? I don’t really enjoy coffee but I understand where you’re coming from but what if I don’t have the time to wait three whole days to get into a writers mode?
Anne interrupted
Anne: First I try to breathe, because I’m either sitting there panting like a lapdog or I’m unintentionally making slow asthmatic death rattles. So I just sit there for a minute, breathing slowly, quietly.
Dominique: Okay
Carloyn: Yes, writing is like meditation or going into an ESP trance, or prayer. Like dreaming.
Dominique: That’s a good way of thinking about it I guess, but I just always find myself struggling to find things to write about …
Ray: Don’t think about it just write word down, in quickness is truth. The faster you blurt the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are.
Anne added
Anne: The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time.
Dominique: That sounds a lot like what I do Ray. I like to brainstorm and just get all my thoughts onto paper and worry about the rest later. Even after I brainstorm I find it hard to start on what I’m doing.
Anne: Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.
Dominique: I just need to take it easy, just breathe and take it bird by bird instead of getting frustrated with it.
Anne: We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose end up being the most natural and fluid.
Dominique: That’s good to know that I’m not the only one.
Dominique and Anne walks away from the table and heads to the bar for another round.
Dominique: I often feel overwhelmed when writing my first draft. I just feel like a put too much time into it in order for it to be great but it never is. So I waste so much time and still have to make major revisions.
Anne: don’t worry about it Dominique. The first draft is a child’s draft , where you let it all pour out and then let It romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.
Ray and carloyn sat at the table