Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Dealing with Demons


Yes, that is the final horn of the Apocalypse you're hearing.
I finally gave in to the little demons telling me to start up a blog. Well, here it is, freshly summoned from the abyss of my right-brain.

This first post is dedicated to the little demons we, as writers, battle every day:

The "my work isn't good enough to be published" demon
The "writer's block" demon
The countless niggling devils that make us second-guess the chapter we just spent all night revising
The "where the hell is my notebook?" demon (though in retrospect, this one may be a gremlin)
The "why can't I write like (insert favorite author here)?" demon

Sometimes the demons can be helpful, when humilty is at stake. The "keeps my ego in check" demon gets the occasional cookie. But when they start to dance on your manuscript, tearing it to shreds with their little cloven hooves, it's time for a good old fashioned exorcism.

I like to take a bath and write in my notebook when the demons get me down. I only write about things that I can stay positive about: notes on a wip I may never get around to fleshing out, notes on my current novel or the query letter that I'm currently in love with.
Remind myself why I'm a writer in the first place.

Though my demons are even more numerous and varied, Lord knows the whole world doesn't need to meet them all. ;)
But I'd love to meet some of yours!

Hey, look, tomorrow is Work in Progress Wednesday! I'll have a better post for tomorrow based on my own recent WIP ranting about the real reason no one is writing any hardcore science fiction lately: It's too damned difficult!
Tomorrow: Science Fiction; The Devil is in the Details

5 comments:

Parametric said...

Your demons are very familiar to me! I'll see you those and raise you another: the "nobody will like my sole viewpoint character" demon.

Actually I have a lot of characterisation demons, because the emotional story is so important. A world-building demon would abandon me to find a victim who actually cared.

Parametric

Rebecca Knight said...

Man, I've totally been chasing those "second guessing" demons around for the last couple of weeks! I hear you, sister!

Hey, great blog post :). I'm now stalki..uh, I mean FOLLOWING you! Woo hoo!

Abby Annis said...

Don't forget the "What? You're cutting that part? But I love that part." demon, aka the rewrite/revision demon. That one's been spending way too much time in my head lately.

Welcome to fabulous world of blogging. Next thing you know, you'll be hounded by that blogging demon. :) Great post!

Unknown said...

I'm late coming to the party, but yeah, I know a thing or two about these demons. Currently the "Trunk it! Now!" one is rousing the rest of them for an all out seige.

Congratulations on your blogging debut!

Tere Kirkland said...

Blogging demons? Crap. And here I thought I knew most of these guys by name.

sirayn, LOl about the world building demon. I even snorted.

Thanks for the comments, y'all. If anyone has any tips on blogging, like getting more traffic to your blog, and formatting issues, I'd love to hear them.