Comments on: I Hate Writing

By: The writing advice links, they are legion | Velcro City Tourist Board

The writing advice links, they are legion | Velcro City Tourist Board — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:27:51 +0000

[…] I’m always relieved to find that my dread and hatred of the mechanics of writing - the “actually sitting down and hitting the keys” part - is not something exclusive to me. S C Butler, for example, knows the pain: You might ask, why do I write at all? The answer? Because the only thing I hate more than writing is not writing. […]

By: S.C. Butler

S.C. Butler — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:18:51 +0000

Karl - Definitely see you in Pittsburgh!

By: Karl Ziellenbach

Karl Ziellenbach — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:53:28 +0000

Nice entry, Sam. I go through periodic cycles of eliminating distractions and being focused, but they’re usually short-lived. Sometimes writing seems to crawl and revision/rewrites become torturous. But like you say, if I don’t write, it bugs me even more. Hope to see you in Pittsburgh.

By: Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:06:53 +0000

I deliberately chose a new laptop without wifi (this was four years ago, when such beasts were still available.)

Eventually I caved in and bought a wireless network card for it, but when I’m writing (properly) I take that card and put it in the laundry, forty metres away. Otherwise I’d be ‘just checking email’ or ‘catching up on the news’ all day.

With the desktop I’ve resorted to yanking the network cable to force myself to get on with it, but I have to be careful because my PC has a bunch of scheduled backup tasks which duplicate everything to network storage.

By: S.C. Butler

S.C. Butler — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:04:34 +0000

vimoh - I actually have an old stripped-down laptop that I love. But when I travel I need internet access and that would mean I’d have to transfer wips from one computer to the other, which I would forget, so I just leave everything on the up-to-date-model.

By: vimoh

vimoh — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:07:02 +0000

People still play Freecell. I guess writers should have minimal computers. Nothing but the word processor. I totally relate.

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:50:13 +0000

chrisweuve, the OCD bit made me laugh out loud–since I’m editing a book in the lobby of my hotel (don’t ask) I got some very strange looks. A couple months back I made a comment on a writer friend’s blog saying I was a little bit OCD about one aspect of the then WIP. Another friend on the blog (also a novelist) said* dude, you write novels for a living, there is nothing sort of about your OCD.

*paraphase for context’s sake.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:08:27 +0000

Writing certainly is work, a labor of love. Sometimes it’s a chore, but there are times when it feels as if I’ve really tapped into something greater than myself, and I can’t write fast enough. It’s those rare moments that make me love and stick with the act of writing.

S.C., there’s no need to apologize. As I said, I do understand the feeling you’re talking about. I also thought of the quote about loving to have written, rather than the act of writing itself.

By: chrisweuve

chrisweuve — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:35:32 +0000

Jeff — I think the lesson is that it’s work, even for the published.

FWIW, I understand the hating to write part. What was it Heinlein said (quoting someone else, I think): “Writers don’t like to write, they like to have written.” (YMMV.)

Some of my “favorite” activities over the last 30 years have been things that I wanted to quit but just couldn’t.

The secret, I think, is to make the OCD work *for* you…

By: Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:58:19 +0000

Revising my early drafts - now THAT I enjoy.

And the marketing. Love that part.