I dither a lot.
I mean a lot!
Perhaps that’s why I am called TardyCreative.com?
But I am not like this in most things – in most things I am very decisive in life generally, but when it comes to creative pursuits, it’s more challenging to make a firm hard decision!
I fear choosing one idea for a particular story, because then I can’t play with that idea anymore – because nobody wants multiple stories of the same thing happening with several endings, or do they?
Let’s give an example of what I might think about, by using an already known piece of work by someone else – let’s say, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley!
If I was writing this and it was my masterpiece (which it isn’t – we’re just hypothesizing here) these things would flow to my mind;
The monster decides to stand and fight the mob and so piece by piece the mob pulls him apart!
The monster runs away to the North Pole and survives!
The monster falls in love with the doctor who made him and they have an awkward existence together!
The monster runs off with a local and attempts to have children with her and the result of that!
Or the monster decides he is too lonely in this world that he will build himself a wife and he will become a doctor himself and try to keep his creator alive forever, whether he liked it or not.
Loads of ideas could come into play and this is me all over!
Which one do I do? Ok, I won’t be rewriting Frankenstein anytime soon, but you get my point don’t you?
This is where my confession is about to reveal itself…
I hate writing.
There! I have said it!
I loathe writing, especially when I have to make that final decision!
I love brainstorming that is fun, the research is fun too and sharing my ideas is fun – but sitting down in the solitude of writing is boring! The writing process and the editing is boring! All I want to do is play with ideas and make visuals.
This is why I will say I have no confidence in becoming a published author. I will try, but I know me… I know it won’t happen because I have trouble finalising!
It’s especially problematic when I am doing this alone.
I have no one who truly loves brainstorming with me, to share my ideas with, to hear their ideas and to feed off of each other’s energies and enthusiasm!
I am in it by myself and it is boring!
Not only this, but I am surrounded by people who think so highly of my work that they believe I will become a multi-millionaire sensation within a year of approaching an agent… I’m a realist; I know it’s not going to happen!
Too many things will get in the way of that – one major thing is my accessibility to be contacted outside of email. I am deaf, profoundly deaf and I have no technology available to me to get around that. I rely on Paul to take all my phone-calls for me – we have never sought help because we don’t know how to do that in Warwickshire, also I rely on Paul to have the energy to phone these places on my behalf.
Yeah, so, I am stuck.
So, I have decided to do things the hard way… the way I usually do things anyway, I am weird like that, one of these people who finds simplicity in difficulty; like I burn eggs on toast, but I can make a soufflé, however I digress!
I am going to get around this, though I am certain I will fail the October 21st deadline, no matter how much I am writing towards that! Based on the idea that I don’t think I’d find representation! So, what am I going to do?
I have never done this before, surprise, shock, horror! I have never had beta readers outside of friends of family, I have never joined a writers group – but I am going to do that. Not yet though, because I really can’t afford the £10 a week bus fare at the moment, but our finances is improving in November because Paul officially retires! So until then I am pretty much stuck in the house.
This particular group I have occasionally spoken to online are really super, because at least half of the members of the group are also into amateur dramatics, something I am keen to get back into! I want to write a play as well as books, I want to screen write, so they will help me gain the experience I need for that as well as making much needed friends!
Gosh, I sound so sad!
Also I have found a friend that has given me access to a free course in learning how to make my own short films and get into film making; hopefully my new friends in this writing group will take a part in that, I hate doing things alone!
I am also keen to get back into music, because musical theatre is particularly interesting to me and I miss singing and playing my instruments tremendously! Most of my poems were meant to be songs as I think about composing music for the lyrics as much as I think about writing stories!
I don’t think you realise that I am a lyricist, composer and performer as much as I am a writer?
My dad and my aunts got me into almost all of this, because they played the piano, bugle, trumpet and the harmonica, they were always singing and they were into amateur theatre as well, mostly as comedians and worked with cockney performers for monthly specials for local nursing homes!
Also they were members of the Salvation Army and played musical instruments in bands around malls and markets at Christmas and my own grandmother was also a majorette and taught me some of the moves, though I am not very good at it like she was! She also told me that her own mother was a cancan dancer in America before marrying her dad – imagine that, because I can’t!
So, I think I found the group I want to be part of.
I have to admit, I don’t have much support about it from my immediate family.
They only want the writing done, because I think they believe there is money in it! Insert eye roll here!
Nobody is happy that I am planning some kind of social life and independence that doesn’t include them in every tiny detail, because they are so used to be being home all day and doing nothing! As I said before, it’s like they resent I am getting better in most things!
So this time next year, I hope to be a part of this local writing group and maybe starting amateur dramatics again?
I need something to be excited about, since my main thing has fallen flat on its face lately. I won’t go into that here; it’s a bit too personal. But let’s just say, I really need to find something to look forward to that won’t disappoint again, because the dark thoughts are creeping back again.
I’d rather brainstorm with people than anything else, do art or motivate others or make others happy or entertained.
I will write books, though I find the process boring, because I have too many good ideas to waste them. I’ve always been motivated to write because of movies, not because I love writing. Let’s be very clear and honest about that. It’s not the writing I love, but the process of thinking about ideas and sharing them with others.
Maybe I am a shallow needy person? But that’s what makes me happy and I can’t help that!
So, yeah, that’s what I wanted to say.
Sorry to disappoint anyone.
But the work will get done, despite what I said.
Happy reading!
tardycreative.com 