I have long been haunted by the words of Dorothea Brande. Her 1934 classic, Becoming a Writer, is a must-read for any aspiring writer. I have read it many times over the years and it never dates. But beware of Chapter Six, “Writing on Schedule.” If you’re with her, she’s already got you doing morning pages by the end of Chapter Five. In Chapter Six you are to take a few minutes in the morning to see what the day has in store. Then you are to commit to a specific time at which you will take 15-30 minutes to write. The length of time is not important. It is the doing, ON SCHEDULE, that is paramount. If you see, for example, that at 4 p.m. you will have 15 free minutes, then “at four o’clock you are going to write, come what may, and you are going to continue until the quarter-hour sounds” (76). There will be no excuses.
Chapter Six ends with a cheerful little subsection called, “Succeed, or Stop Writing.” And these words can bite at my heels whenever I don’t write as planned:
“Right here I should like to sound the solemnest word of warning that you will find in this book: If you fail repeatedly at this exercise, give up writing. Your resistance is actually greater than your desire to write, and you may as well find some other outlet for your energy early as late” (79).
I have spent years questioning whether my resistance is greater than my desire. If it is, then my resistance is immensely powerful because my desire to write is like a fire that won’t go out. I’ve been doing morning pages daily (not a single miss, I must say!) for over three years now. I’ve had bursts of creative energy resulting in stories about which I feel pretty good. But I am less good about keeping that appointment with myself on a consistent basis. I do it for a couple of weeks, and then my mind wanders and the next thing I know…
Since Dorothea is full of ideas about how to outwit the sneaky parts of the unconscious and awaken the sleepy and creative parts of it, I have a theory about her uncharacteristically threatening words at the end of Chapter Six. She’s engaging in a clever ploy. She knows that writers are relentless, defiant beings. Whenever I feel myself slacking away from my creative dream, if the dream itself is not enough to sustain me, Dorothea’s words, taken as a challenge, can spur me on. Dorothea, I’ll show you. See, I can keep an appointment with myself. So there. Watch me. Watch me write now, today, at the time I said I would!
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3 comments:
Great post...and I must say I said "Ouch" when I first read Dorothea's words about quitting because the resistance was stronger than the will to write. But I think you nailed it--she's trying good ol' reverse psychology, and it appears to be working with you. A good thing!
Keep writing! :)
And welcome to the blogosphere.
(BTW, blog posts count as writing) ;)
I'm so impressed by your morning routine! I'm sure Dorothea would be proud. :)
I too have strenuously opposed my inclinations to drop the pencil forevermore--albeit these efforts were all in vain, I still hope to muster up the confidence to write like I have in the past.
Now that I am of the age where one can be audaciously rebellious, I will reflect on Dorothea's somber words of resignation in the perspective in which you have interpreted.
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