In Edward Abbey’s classic, Hayduke Lives, the book opens with a Desert Tortoise being buried under a huge pile of dirt pushed by a giant bull dozer. I thought it was some symbolic statement about the Earth being trashed. That tortoise was history.
I quickly forgot about the tortoise as the story unfolded. But at the end of the book that tortoise crawls out of the dirt and keeps on going.
Obviously, with writing it’s important to keep moving forward. Sometimes it might feel like you are going nowhere fast, like you can’t get your head out of the dirt.
But speed isn’t the point if you’re on this writing journey.
I’m guessing that tortoise stopped and rested in its crawl toward daylight, and maybe it even took a few wrong turns but it made it out of dirt. And then, it kept on going.
This week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll be attending a bunch of free online workshops at WriteOnCon. It’ll be a great way to keep moving forward.
The presentations will be available on the WriteOnCon website afterwards so even if you can’t make any of them at the given times you can still check them out, which is a good deal for me since I live in Alaska and the Conference starts at 2 a.m. my time. Yeah, there’s a good chance I’ll miss the keynote address tomorrow because I’ll be doing this:
What do you do to keep moving forward as a writer? And, when you feel stuck, what do you do to get unstuck? Are you participating in WriteOnCon?
Well, I just took an inline course for a month and that really helped. And went to a conference in May!
I just signed up for it today and I am excited to “attend” as many sessions as I can!
YAY WriteOnCon!! Signed up last month. See you there, Paul.
How’d you get a pic of me in my chair? Hubby sent it to ya, huh? 😉
Paul, as far as my writing goes, I needed to read about that tortoise today!
When I’m stuck, the best way for me to get unstuck is to go into hibernation. No friends, no blogging, nothing except essential Life Obligations. I have to focus on my writing and only my writing, as I’m distracted very easily. So hibernation helps until I’ve developed a rhythm, and once I have, I can rejoin life and still keep my focus on writing.
I’ve heard of WriteonCon, but didn’t explore further (need to get into revisions). Enjoy it!
Judy
Visit my blog for the Free Autographed Book Giveaway to celebrate Southern African Women Writers
I think workshops and writing retreats can be really helpful to move one forward… any kind of encouragement actually. I started an online writers workshop myself, just to surround myself with encouraging writers! And I set goals and look for deadlines (grant applications, competitions and so on).
I’ll definitely be there. I like how the forum has been active for weeks.
Woo! LOVE that dog photo! Too funny!
Have fun at the conference, I’ll miss most of it due to work
😦
Getting unstuck usually involves something that feels a whole lot like procrastination – taking the dog on a long walk or maybe some other creative pursuit. The funny thing is that these little exercises in procrastination actually do help me to get unstuck.
As for Write On Con, the day job will probably keep me too busy, but as you pointed out I can always check things out after the fact. That may be what I’ll have to do.
Switching W’sIP keeps me moving. And gives the WIP and me the time we need apart.
The WriteOnCon workshops sound great. Enjoy! I’m registered again for the Surrey Conference in October and am really looking forward to it. It’s that annual immersing in a total writers’ environment that re-energizes me and keeps me going.
I’m not one to stumble with writer’s block, but when I need periodic refreshment I might give over an entire day to reading helpful blogs or interacting with other writers online. I always end up feeling more enthusiasm for the task.
Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by and sharing. I’ll be visiting blogs and commenting as soon as I can. And I’ll be responding to comments as well. I’ve been spending my time over at WriteOnCon. Great stuff going on over there!
Ok, first of all, I’m just LMBO at that lanky teenaged great dane. Is he/she yours?
And what a great post, Paul. Love the symbolism in that tortoise’s journey.
I get stuck all the time in my writing. I have to rest a LOT. But then, I just start moving again. I don’t have any magic, just plain ol’ determination to keep. moving. forward. Just as you said.
ali, most of the photos I use on my blog are mine but the two on this entry are not. But I couldn’t resist not using that Great Dane!
Connecting with other writers keeps me going. Also reading great books helps…I get that “I wanna write something good too” feeling.