Forcing creativity is like forcing a fart, with similar results.
I don't know if that's a quote from someone famous or not, but if it isn't I'm claiming it here and now.
Over the past few weeks, I've found myself in an incredibly different situation than I'm used to. I've moved from one state to the next, I'm officially sifting through the job market, and I'm adjusting to being an actual, paying-the-bills adult. It's strange.
Of course, this messed with my creative flow quite a bit. During the summer it was very easy for me to sit down over the course of a few hours and pound out a thousand words (once I wrote three thousand good words in three hours. What.). Now it's difficult for me to get that done all day, and not for lack of time. Unemployment has at least one benefit.
For a while this led me to try and force the words out, just to hit that goal. I set that benchmark back in early June when I really knuckled down and started writing this novel, for real guys, no really, and for a few months I had very little trouble hitting my goal. In two months I had added over 65,000 words to the story, which is now in full official novel-length.
Now that my situation is drastically different, I've found it harder and harder sometimes to really just get it done. Some days I want to do nothing more than sit and play Crusader Kings 2, or watch stupid crap online. I made myself sit down and write, though, for hours on end, and was never quite happy with what I wrote, despite various peoples' assurances that it was good.
So now I'm taking it a little easier, at least until things are a little more sorted and organized. I think I'm more worried about getting burned out on this if I keep up the pace for too long. Now for a little story:
I went to GenCon earlier this year in mid-August, which is a board-game convention (think more Warhammer and Settlers of Catan than Monopoly) and managed to attend a seminar hosted by Patrick Rothfuss, the author of the Name of the Wind. One of the questions asked was whether his views on writing had changed since being published, and he said that they had. Now it wasn't a hobby, now it's something he does as work. It went from being something fun to being something he has to do to pay the bills. He still likes it, but he's adjusting.
I feel like I'm nearing that point. True, I'm not being paid for it (hopefully there's a "yet" in there somewhere) but it still feels like something I have to do, instead of something I want to do. There's definitely a distinction in there.
So now it's time for me to get back to my Word document. It's actually coming along pretty well. There's only maybe two weeks until Eight Days to Absolution hits 100,000 words, and I intend to celebrate it with some sort of drunken, debauched celebration. After all, what are milestones good for if not arbitrary celebrations?
Back to the "quote." Don't force creativity. You'll most likely end up with shit.
