Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: thoughtful
  • Music: Heather Dale, 'Mordred's Lullabye.'

Ah, the inside of my brain. Now with bonus Lilly.

The fascinating thing about the speed at which I tend to work is the way that I always feel like I'm not getting anything done. To quote Amy, "Even though Superman can move super-fast, time feels the same for him as it does for everybody else." So while my idea of a 'slow day' may look like some other people's idea of 'so productive I wouldn't be able to move for a week,' the agonies of feeling like I've been goofing off are just as severe for me as they are for everybody else.

I get scolded for this periodically, since I tend to get frustrated and whine. Another friend likened it to that lady who only needs to lose five pounds, yet complains every time she accidentally ingests a calorie. To which I can only note that those five pounds may mark the end of a two hundred pound journey. I'm as fast as I am because I've always ridden myself to move faster, move cleaner, and get more done.

Watching other people at work is truly a fascinating thing for me, because they're chasing the same end through methods which are, quite often, entirely foreign. This is also why I say that there's no 'one true way' to write, beyond the part where all writing eventually needs to involve putting words on paper. (Although even that's questionable, since I know people who've composed and memorized stories and poetry without every writing anything down. If they perform it the same way every time, isn't it still something they wrote? Oral tradition and the rise of podcasting as a method of getting stories out there are changing 'wrote' to mean more than just the act of physically recording words on a page.)

Lilly is ecstatic about the fact that I'm writing again; she feels that my adoration of the strange clicky-box is paid for by the fact that when I'm adoring it, I tend to sit still for long periods of time, thus giving myself ample time to pet the cat. I think she senses that the ailing health of my older feline means something, but hasn't yet put together the connection between 'Nyssa isn't doing well' and 'Mommy keeps looking at pictures of Siamese kittens on the clicky-box screen.'

Won't she be surprised? And, as a secondary question, how does writing work for you?
Tags: being productive, contemplation, lilly, writing
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  • 17 comments

lady_ravenlocke

October 8 2008, 00:52:20 UTC 8 years ago

I tend to work in rabid bursts, with lots of time in between those bursts for lots of thinking. When I'm on a roll, though, I can get a lot done, to the point my roommate has actually been able to use my typing as enough white noise to get to sleep.

I can't work in a vacuum, though, like some people have suggested to me over time. I like to have my roomie nearby, since he's literally a walking encyclopedia. I can ask him quick, obscure questions, normally for stuff I don't want to stop writing to go look up (example: is something used in the water of sensory dep tanks to help the subject float? Answer: Yeah, it's Epsom Salt, or Magnesium Sulfate).

Now, if I can just get to the point I can start finishing things. LOL

seanan_mcguire

October 8 2008, 01:45:25 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, it's a slow process, but you'll get there!