“Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.”
— Paul Rudnick
I’d also add taking aimless walks, online shopping, and playing Kim Kardashian: Hollywood to Mr. Rudnick’s spot-on list. His assessment of the craft that is writing really struck a chord with me when I stumbled upon it. And, ok, made me feel a little less guilty for everything I do to escape actually writing.
I’m the first one to admit that I’m in no way, shape, or form a prolific writer. In fact, I’ll have to throw in some adjectives here to properly qualify myself. I’m an avoidant writer. Slow. Sluggish. Snail’s pace. Lacking frequency. Inconsistent. And I feel very guilty about that sometimes. But when the ink strikes, some magic bubbles up to the surface, and pieces I’m proud of come to life.
New York Dolls, my first novel, is one of those pieces. I’m thrilled that 48fourteen will be publishing it in the fall of 2014. It’s been a long road since I started writing it nearly, yes, five years ago. There’s been writing, rewriting, starting, stopping, editing, revising, and rejection, rejection, rejection. I was just about to throw in the towel and pat myself on the back for “sticking with it.” “It’s the journey, not the destination”-type of thing. But then came the news from 48fourteen, and soon Denton Hodges and the story of her wild ride at Glitter magazine will be published. Awesomeness.
I’ve written a few things along the way since I began New York Dolls, and this year, I embarked on a screenplay. My working goal has been to complete it this year. My husband likes to regularly inform me that it’s now closing in on October. I’m roughly a third of the way through. But it’s entertaining to work on, and when I get going, that old, faithful, bubbly magic pops up. It’s getting to be October, but I’m hopeful and feeling focused.
Of course, in the writing of this blog entry, I’ve posted on Facebook, browsed Facebook, hated myself for using Facebook, stopped to watch Modern Family, and played more Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. That’s writing for me. So embarrassing.
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