Fading Interest was supposed to be a tongue in cheek, sly wink at my propensity to delay, postpone, put-off, or outright ignore the creative things in my life that I promised myself I would pursue. The literal six month hiatus since my last burst of energy has pulled that tongue away from the cheek and chomped it sharply between either molars or incisors...either way it stings and is met with oaths of surprise, pain, and promises to avoid repetition.
It has been nearly three weeks since I canceled the hell out of my World of Warcraft account and I do not miss it a bit. I thought I would. I thought that was how I wanted to spend my free time and I could not see the other side of the veil until I took the initiative to tear it down and walk away. And three weeks down the road, my brain is emerging from a creative fog. I have projects again, projects I want to pursue...creative efforts and promises that seem far more likely to fall into the realm of possibility.
Five years of that game put me to sleep. I have forgotten how to write. And that paralyzing realization has weighed on me so much so that I feel compelled to make everything I try to write as amazing as possible.
What a bunch of crap.
I forgot how to write. The muscle atrophied and withered and the only solution is a healthy diet and practice. So here goes, another reboot of my creative engines. Looking back on the things I attempted in the past year, the thing I enjoyed the most were my Snippets. There is something refreshing about diving into a story in the beginning, middle, or end, telling a small bit, giving just a taste or hint of promise, and stepping sideways when a bus passes so that no one can figure out where you went or when.
I enjoyed writing the Snippets and I struggled with cohesive, longer form narratives - struggled with an unrealistic pressure to produce gems of wit and vigor in one go. So I am going to learn how to write again (or perhaps for the first time). An archive of essays I wrote years and years ago is going away from public consumption soon. I am going to republish many of them here to remind me of the writing that made me proud while at the same time using those reprints to push me while I learn to write again (or perhaps for the first time...sigh). And it looks like I am going to learn one scene at a time.
Consider Fading Interest waxing on once again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting...for now
About Me
- Nathaniel Perkins
- Geek - Gamer - Librarian - Writer. Only awesome at one of those things at a time, unfortunately.
About Fading Interest
After writing op-eds and travelogues for several years, after finishing a few books, and after failing to get the ball rolling with project after project I stumbled into an idea that might just hold my interest long enough to enjoy some level of satisfaction with my writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment