No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. This month, life's been crazier than normal (which is saying a lot!). I knew signing up for NaNoWriMo would tempt my last thin thread of sanity to snap, but no, I'm not going to pressure myself to that point. My goal was to get a good start on a first draft, and if I manage to make it to 50k (I won't), then great. In any case, I'll have the beginnings of a story to delve into and edit.
Lately I've also been reassessing. My interests are so varied, and I let my writing take me in many different directions. Is this a bad thing? It's funny, but after listening to an interview on my favorite radio station, WXPN, with Ryan Adams, I'm beginning to wonder. Ryan's a very talented musician, and has experimented with many different genres of music. When host David Dye delicately suggested maybe he stretched himself over too many, Ryan Adams' argument went something like: "it's not as if it's toxic waste" meaning, I guess, that music doesn't harm anyone, and why would anyone object to him making lots of different types of music?
My WIPs and story ideas range from literary to mainstream to romance to indefinable. Should I -- or any writer -- let someone else tell me I should limit what I write? I don't think so. How do I know that what I'm writing now isn't what I should be writing? Maybe if I return to literary and mainstream stories, that's where I'll finally pen the long-awaited masterpiece.
Lately I've also been reassessing. My interests are so varied, and I let my writing take me in many different directions. Is this a bad thing? It's funny, but after listening to an interview on my favorite radio station, WXPN, with Ryan Adams, I'm beginning to wonder. Ryan's a very talented musician, and has experimented with many different genres of music. When host David Dye delicately suggested maybe he stretched himself over too many, Ryan Adams' argument went something like: "it's not as if it's toxic waste" meaning, I guess, that music doesn't harm anyone, and why would anyone object to him making lots of different types of music?
My WIPs and story ideas range from literary to mainstream to romance to indefinable. Should I -- or any writer -- let someone else tell me I should limit what I write? I don't think so. How do I know that what I'm writing now isn't what I should be writing? Maybe if I return to literary and mainstream stories, that's where I'll finally pen the long-awaited masterpiece.
Or not. But without experimentation, how will I know? Artists need to stretch their creativity, not limit it.
That's my take, anyway. What's yours?
