When I Can’t Write

Last week Kent challenged us to “make our writing worth reading on paper.” Additionally, Alison recently reminded us to write about something we care for passionately.

Besides the call for quality I hear, I am reminded of the simple need to write not for the sake of writing, but because we have an urgent, worthwhile message we care about passionately and must tell. I seem to remember a quote about only telling the story that only you can tell. (If no one has said that yet, they should have.)

What Does That Mean?
The last time I truly remember writing something worthwhile was several months ago. I woke up early, thinking about a storyline I’d been contemplating. I sat down and the words just gushed out of me as though I were only a typist listening to someone dictate. Don’t you just love it when that happens? More times than not, it doesn’t. And just as we don’t pray only when we feel like it, we don’t not write during those pulling-teeth-with-every-single-word painful writing dearths.

Silent Times
But are there ever times to not write? Are there ever times we’re forcing the issue?

Soapbox of the Week
Several months back a neighboring university sent a brochure to our English department about their literature department hosting a conference to analyze the literary value of the James Bond film series. Now I’m sure it could’ve been a lot of fun, and it’s possible the group left the better for it. But (pardon me Ian Fleming fans)… really?

I have to wonder if it’s a case of people trying to sound and feel intelligent by over-intellectualizing non-intellectual things. It’s almost as if "intelligence" is the new status symbol--a measuring rod for how you stack up in circles of people for whom "intellect" is their self-proclaimed badge of honor. I see our culture taking low-brow things and trying to prove their own high-brow status through parlor-room critical analysis.

What Does that Have to Do with Writing?
Do we sometimes write even when we really have nothing to say just because we wish we had something to say? Are there ever times we force out a message just because we don’t want to not be writing?

What do I do on days I feel I have no message? What about days when there’s nothing I passionately care for other than to live and let live? Do I scratch out a journal to maintain the discipline of writing? Do I try to dream up some great topic and set to work on my next publication anyway? Or skip it and wait for another day to bring a breath of fresh inspiration?

I’m not sure either way, but I can I tell you that I won’t be giving the world writing worth reading if I try to publish something for the sake of publishing. Forget my perfectionist tendencies; I know when my work is not inspired, regardless of quality. I won’t try to convince the world of the legitimacy and brilliance of an idea when I know it’s forced. I’ll just bide my time till once again those words gush from my dancing fingertips and then let my work speak for itself.

Lagniappe
Great compilation of writing quotes: http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html

About to Start Reading: Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead to prep for Home