The Sayer and the Namer

There are certain things I'm pretty genius at, if I dont' mind saying so myself. I'm brilliant at creating worthy side-projects to avoid doing a big yucky one. Masterful. I could teach an entire graduate program in avoiding that-which-you-don't-want-to-tackle. Course titles would include "Making the Diversion Count" and "Self-Delusion" and "Don't Worry, You've got *Plenty* of Time"(I could, quite possibly, be a leading expert in the last course. World-renowned. I'll sign autographs later, when I've got time...haha)

I've made this work throughout my entire educational career, all the way through Graduate School, and have been fine. I've managed to learn the materials, write the papers, do the research, etc. using my own weird process. However, let me tell you an area in my educational career where this process will not work. WILL NOT, ERIN...do you hear that?!?....writing a novel for my thesis. (geesh...I'm still not sure what I was thinking there).

I've had 8 chapters written for about 6 months now. I've written 2 this summer thus far. (Yes, we're in July, I know). That makes 10 chapters in 9 months of knowing about the novel. How incredibly sad. In the meantime, I've organized my ENTIRE house once, and I'm starting to go through it again, I've researched a ton about my subject matter, I even went on a trip to the setting of my novel, surely that counts for something! I could go on and on about the other stuff I've done in lieu of working on the novel, but you don't want to hear it, and I don't want to be that blogger who brags about silly accomplishments. I much prefer to be the blogger who uses self-deprecation techniques to motivate herself to do something.

I love to read writers' blogs and books on writing. Stephen King's On Writing is such an incredible guide, and such an incredible reminder of his crazy talent. It at once motivates me to get going and makes me want to hang my writing hat and leave it to people like him. Anyway, I've recently read King, Ray Bradbury (Zen and the Art of Writing), and heard Harlan Coben say pretty much the exact same thing: So you want to be a writer? Stinkin' write! (I added the stinkin; all 3 of those guys are way too cool to say that. I'm not.) Just do it! Every day! Don't stop! Even if you don't feel like it. Harlan Coben said that writers are just as professional as plumbers. Do you ever hear a plumber complain that he just wasn't feeling his pipe-fixing muse today? That he didn't feel like he had a connection to his tools? Of course not, it's crazy, just like it is for a writer to say the same about their craft.

So that's just what I've got to do. Write. Read. Research. Then write some more. Then some more. Then even more. How much happier will I be in March if I turn in a thesis that I'm proud of? Ooh, I'm gonna add that to my mantra.

Happy (writing) Friday, friends and family! Enjoy your 4th barbecues and fireworks :)