For my birthday, my best friend gave me a wonderful book, A Year of Writing Dangerously - 365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement by Barbara Abercrombie.
I picked up the book yesterday to read the corresponding lesson. What was it about? Stalling, of course! This is what it reads:
"Research for your writing can be great fun; it can also be a cozy little trap. I once spent a blissful month researching Alaska for a project I can no longer remember and never actually wrote. I became particularly fascinated with the Matanuska Valley, where vegetables grow ten times their usual size because of the abundance and slant of the sunlight. For over a month I happily made notes, thrilled that I didn't have to actually write. I just copied down facts about giant vegetables.
Libraries and the Internet can be like crack houses for the research addicted. What's hard, messy, and frustrating is writing words straight out of your own head."
Reading this felt like, "Doh! You found me hiding here in research-land!"
You might say, "Well, you're writing now. Good job!"
If only it were true. I'm not writing what I need to be writing. This post is still part of stalling. Now it's time to get to the actual work of writing!
