Wednesday 28 November 2012

I like reading. How do I write?

I have three days of NaBloWriMo left and I have writer's block. The problem is that when I read great writing, I don't feel inspired, I feel belittled. I don't think, wow, I'd better get writing! I think, I could never write anything like that, why should I even try?

I've just read this blog post: http://makeitmad.com/2012/11/28/preach/. It is an account of two Christians delivering food to homeless people in California on Thanksgiving Day. It is one of the best-written pieces of work I have read in a long time.

My favourite author is Douglas Adams. I am currently re-reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy for the nth time. Douglas Adams's writing is so effortlessly brilliant. It doesn't read as if he is trying to sound clever. The sentences aren't clumsy. It reads as though everything has been very cleverly constructed, but as though he didn't have to agonise over every word choice. It is as though it has just flowed from his mind onto the page. Perhaps part of the reason it feels like he has written like that is that the book barely has a plot so it's almost a stream of consciousness with chapter headings. Whatever the reasons, whether I can put my finger on them or not, I love reading the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. If you haven't read it, please give it a go.

Any ideas you can give me for how to improve my writing or how to get inspired for writing will be greatly appreciated. I love reading so much that I'd like to give writing a go.

1 comment:

  1. That's an interesting challenge. I'm not sure about writing 'better'. But nowadays I'm finding it helpful to stop treating writing my poetry and blogging, as a serious undertaking, or endeavour. Enjoyable writing is when the only thing you want to do is create something for pure enjoyment (yourself and others). There is a childlike, kind of innocent joy in this, and I think Douglas Adams had it. We catch that simplicity. I know he spent many hours lazing in the bath, and drinking lots of tea. Many of the most creative people like Agatha Christie, Beatrix Potter etc, spent long parts of their day wandering about alone, They had quiet minds, got bored, and then got creative. Time, silence... They didn't have TV, Facebook, twitter,hectic lifestyles, but time to think. Spending time enjoying nature is very inspiring.The quietness and pace in nature slows our minds down and - well I don't know quite why, but it makes you more creative anyhow : )

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