Saturday, November 10, 2007

Ouch, The Pain of Writing

By Keith Fisher

For those of us who look forward to weekends, Friday is the day of days, the light at the end of the tunnel. This week, however, it sneaked up on me before I knew it was coming and I was blogless.

To make matters worse, I inflamed my Sciatic Nerve (not sure of the spelling), and had to spend the day lying on my back reading. It’s painful to sit at my desk to write.

This is my longwinded way of apologizing for the condition of my (ouch) writing. And the (ouch) tardiness.

I want to share a condensed quote with you, however, it’s by David G. Woolley, and it hangs on the wall in front of my desk,

"Writing fiction is storytelling, but we must be more than storytellers. Ours is an art of communicating emotions, creating suspense. Describing the grit and grime and smell of a place. If we do it well, we transport the reader to a place just beyond eternity without leaving the Lazy-Boy. It sure ain’t easy—but it is doable."

Good luck with your writing.

6 comments:

David T. said...

This week I helped my 11-year old daughter do a report on Ray Bradbury. Here's an 87-year old guy who's still writing, still creating, still inspiring the world. He recently said he contues to get up every day, excited to write. So why is my excitement like a Sopwith Camel soaring into the sky, only to start sputtering out of gas in mid-flight?

I've had the good fortune of getting scripts produced in the past, but it seems lately every good idea takes me as far as developing the beginning, middle and end of a main plot, and then I lose the burning in the belly. The Final Draft files are dragged into the Junk Drawer folder on my desktop, never to be revisited again.

Part of me wonders if I just plain lost it, the victim of life moving on with family stuff, etc. Another voice asks if I just haven't divined the right story yet. It has been 7 years since I completed a writing project beyond blog entries, and I keep hoping for that lightning bolt to strike again.

If there are any old family recipes anyone would like to share for such an ailment, I'd love to get them.

Jennifer Wilks said...

I love that quote! I'll have to post it next to my computer, too.

Tristi Pinkston said...

Ouch, Keith! I'm sorry to hear about the nerve. I had really bad nerve pain during my last pregnancy and found that stretching exercises really help.

I'm sorry the computer is painful, but spending a day reading doesn't sound too bad . . .

C. L. Beck said...

Keith,
Sorry to hear about your back. Ouch!

But Tristi's right, stretching exercises do help. Get better soon!

G. Parker said...

Oh man! Wish you had a lap top, huh? Take care!

Rebecca Talley said...

Great quote. Dave is a master.

Hope your back feels better.