The worst thing a writer can say is, “Hey, what’s on TV tonight?”
The second worst thing a writer can say is, “I’ll just be on the internet for a minute…”
And there it goes, the best intentions for starting a new story, editing one of those fifty trunk novels, or marketing the ones already on Amazon. Before you know it, it’s four a.m., you have to leave for work at seven, and your wife doesn’t even know you snuck out of bed to go “work”.
Well, that’s how it is sometimes, but if you’re honest with yourself at all, it catches up with you after a while. You begin to feel guilty about it because, face it, you’re not getting any younger and you know that both what you’ve written and what you’ve got swirling around in your mind is worth writing, publishing, and offering to the world.
With this in mind I’ve started doing something new. I’ve started carrying a notepad and every chance I get, I write in it. I know it’s old school and not a particularly efficient way to write, but it’s better than nothing. And I’ve actually begun what may be a new potential novel this way. I’m trying it out anyway. As long as I can score enough computer time to polish it up and expand it, it should work.
The new story is something different for me. It’s not straight horror, but more noirish, a story built a hard-boiled cynical detective at a physical and psychological tipping point on the edge of failure, a beautiful woman with terrible secrets, and a host of crooked cops, psychopathic crooks, and a dark presence of evil that orchestrates the misery of a dark bleak sleazy world that is the city.
Yeah, I can do that.
So for any of you that thought I’d just given up on the blogging, please accept my mea culpa. For those of you who haven’t done so yet, go to Amazon and check out my novels. Better yet, buy a couple. And for those of you who are writers, whether you use a laptop, a PC or a notepad, keep on writing.
© Copyright 2013 by Kevin Fraleigh.
I feel your pain. My to-do and to-read lists both continue to grow, all while I contemplate escaping from the hamster wheel that is social media… 😉
Convicting post — that darn Internet! I recently did the journal thing with a new book I was writing – and I loved it! It’s amazing how a different writing instrument (pen versus keyboard) opened my eyes to new, creative ideas. Enjoy!
Amazing, my blog post today was about the importance of writers using notebooks! I’ve got two beside me right now that I’ve been scribbling in all morning – I couldn’t get any real writing done without them 🙂
I think carrying a notebook is actually the most efficient way to write. Although I do write on my iPad and I carry it almost everywhere, I still have moments when a thought hits me and I don’t have my iPad handy, or I’m with some my friends and I feel it would be rude to whip out my iPad (or any other electronic device) and start typing. But a piece of paper is different, and I’ve found most people understand if I want to jot something down on their napkin 🙂 Keep writing!