“And then you just do it. You dig in a write it. You use your body. You lean over your computer and stretch and pace. You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing.” Amy Poehler

The Act of Writing

I’m still listening to Amy Poehler read Yes Please as it meanders through various life lessons and funny stories. I especially like the audio because it feels like I’m part of the in-crowd, hanging out with Amy and her funny friends.

I also wanted to talk about this quote of hers, from the preface called ‘Writing is hard’. I think it really expresses something about writing.

Sometimes when I talk about writing I mean the noun. I have a collection of writing: scribbles in notebooks, documents in my computer, notes on my phone.

Other times when I talk about writing I mean the verb – the act of writing. That’s the more important one. I heard the words in my head just moments before I type them down and sometimes I can’t hear the voice at all – whether it’s my own voice or my characters. There is dissonance.

Writing means using your body, your fingers and hands and sometimes you don’t want to. (Yes, I’m writing this blog post than working on my story. How did you know? Are you psychic?)

I was a baker briefly, before my wrists and arms gave out on me and I couldn’t do the work anymore.

As I learned to be a baker I noticed something when people trained me and later when I trained the new bakers, a large part of working with dough is done by touch. You have to stretch the bread dough in a certain way, molding it, and rounding it. You press your hands on it, slap it on the bench, and pound it before you shape it. You feel it and then just do it. You work the dough. Then you do this every day until you it becomes natural. Teaching someone to do this is really difficult. It’s such a physical tactile action. You have to train your muscles.

Writing is a little bit similar. It’s hard to teach someone the act of writing, and the creative side of it. You have to train yourself. Then you have to do it over and over. Every day you write. You figure it out by writing the story. Whether you outline it first or just follow your inspiration, or spend months or years building your world and figuring out your characters – eventually you have to write the story.

When you get stuck in the story, when your characters are in another impossible situation and you can’t figure out how they’re going to escape, you can put it off only so long. Procrastination is always going to be easier. Take a break. Take a walk. But nothing has changed. You still have to write your story.

Go on.

Start writing.

Writing Advice for Myself

• Take action first thing in the morning.
• Do it. Write
• Make writing a habit
• Take a break. Take a walk. Then come back and write your story
• Ready? Deep breath. Go

On my Kindle: The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The intimate history by Tilar Mazzeo
Currently reading: King Rat by China Miéville
Next up? One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake

Currently writing: Book 2 of Fairy Doctor