Elspeth Antonelli over at It's a Mystery is a wondrous woman. She writes mystery games and is working on a series of historical mysteries set in England. As her muse she has these fabulous sheep that take it in turn to badger her, hound her, outfox her but mostly insist that she get herself to writing. She is on a blog sabbatical right (write) now to do some writing and I have taken a bit of her last post to encourage us all. Please go over to her site to read the whole thing - it is a genuine hoot and very wise indeed!
So the tip for those of you who missed it is : WRITERS NEED TO WRITE.WRITER: I wondered what you get asked the most.SHEEP #2: Our best bits of wisdom?SHEEP #3: Our greatest hits?SHEEP #1: Easy. Stop reading about writing and write.WRITER: Excuse me?SHEEP #2: Why? What did you do?SHEEP #1: Did you leave a mess? Do we need a mop?SHEEP #2: Have you ever noticed that the mop looks a lot like Uncle Murray?SHEEP #1 & #3: Poor Uncle Murray.WRITER: What happened?SHEEP #1: It was a tragic case of A Fence Too Far. Well, too high, really.SHEEP #2: We’ve digressed.SHEEP #3: Sorry.WRITER: You were saying…SHEEP #1: Writers need to write. It sounds simplistic, but it’s not. It’s far easier to read about writing or write about writing --SHEEP #2: Or talk about writing.SHEEP #3: Don’t get me started. Get thee behind me, Facebook!SHEEP #1: If you want to finish something, then finish it. Writing is work.SHEEP #2: Sometimes I think it was easier when writers were up in their chilly attics, pounding away on their typewriters.SHEEP #1: Or dipping their pen nibs into bottles of ink.SHEEP #3: Taking a break to warming their chilblained fingers before a flickering coal fire.All three sheep sigh.
the top : Elspeth Antonelli's sheep
How it works in my life : Great when I remember it. I'm actually feeling it right now. The need to hunker down and write. I think after spending two months writing the first draft of Bright Angel and then letting it ripen for a month or so ... well, I want to pitter patter fly atter. My writing group the other night was really helpful with their crits and now I want to write write write. Or revise revise revise.
I don't have inner sheep ... just one bossy camel.
4 comments:
Jan - I absolutely adore Elspeth's sheep. They are truly wise. And yes, sometimes one has to hunker down and write. Just...write.
Right. I mean, write. I'm off to do some now. Thanks for the nudge.
Ha ha! This is so much fun! Even though I am allergic to wool, I kind of have a thing for sheep. Not a weird thing. Just a happy, warm fuzzy feeling about them. And the thing is, I *do* wonder if it was "easier" for writers before facebook and the internet came along. I mean, with our connections and networking, it's just so dang easy to procrastinate writing time away! I am determined to try to buck up and block out my time. Good stuff, my friend. Many happy baaa's to you.
Get thee behind me, Facebook!
Thankyou, that was so funny!
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