Avoid

I haven't posted a new entry for a while. That's partly because I've been blessed with sufficient inspiration to be able to continue working on the novel. It's also partly because I haven't listened to the radio at all for the last ten days, which - for someone who doesn't really read newspapers and watches almost no television - means that I haven't been keeping track of what's going on in 'the world'. At first I didn't think this would have a significant impact on my diary entries, but I'm beginning to appreciate that much of what I write here is sparked by events reported in the media. Perhaps that's no bad thing. After all, aren't all diaries reactionary? But then why am I bothered by this? Why do I think that writing responses to events around me is a trap which must be avoided?

Mind you, I reserve most of my 'original ideas' - if you'll forgive the portentous tone - for my book. They've been coming at a respectable rate over the last few days. A character who was dead has been revived, but she's now got a terminal illness. A new character has been created, but her sole purpose is to be annoying, which makes me feel rather mean, but there we are: I get to play God in this game. A character who was going to remain wordless has now discovered that he can write letters and find a way of cheating my 'first person only' perspective. Of course, all this means that much of what has been written so far will need to be amended/scrapped/relocated, but no-one ever said that writing a book would be a neat, linear process.

At least things are moving forward, which means that every day takes me one step closer to the square marked 'complete'... although then I'll have to negotiate the journey to the squares marked 'ready to show to other people', 'ready to be read without inducing suicidal thoughts' and the most frightening one of all, 'ready to be sealed in an envelope.'

Comments

Popular Posts