Living on writer time
Created | Updated Jan 20, 2013
Words, words, words. That's what we're made of. Herewith some of my thoughts on what we're doing with them.
Writing Right with Dmitri: Living on Writer Time
Gonna set my watch back to it cause you know I’ve been through it
Livin’ on Tulsa time. . . – Don Williams
Do you know that song? Probably not, unless you're a country music fan. But you know the feeling: a man is one place, but his heart's in another. His mental watch is set to 'Tulsa time'.
The world keeps trying to kill us. Not physically – at least, I hope that's not true for you – but mentally. We're in danger of dying of information overload. Worse still, everybody on the internet wants you to 'get with the program'. They tell you when to get excited, and about what. It's all about 'trending'. Phooey.
If you want to write, you've got to defend your personal mental space. Don't think about that woman and her boyfriends, just because the 'news' people told you to. Don't feel you have to watch The Colbert Report every single day. Make your own space/time, and keep it inviolate, so you can go there whenever you want to, and add to your personal store of creativity.
Set your watch on Tulsa time. Wherever Tulsa is for you.
Every Writer Is an Island
JM Barrie famously said that 'Neverland is always more or less an island.' I think he said that because he believed that there was a sense in which one's imaginary places are not truly contingent with the waking world. Barrie, like many of us who write, found his most productive moments in the hypnagogic state – that mental place between waking and dreaming. Learning to navigate that space while retaining some semblance of logic and memory is the real trick to making it work for you – because when all is said and done, what distinguishes a dreamer from a writer is the ability to make a map for others to follow.
It's all about the map, you see. But before you can make a map, you've got to explore the territory. And to do that, you've got to leave home.
Leaving Home
She's leaving home after living alone for so many years. . . – The Beatles
When you leave home, you depart the strict rules of the shared reality that binds us – more or less, and for good or ill – to what everybody else is doing and thinking at the moment. Everybody around you will fuss. On the other hand, everybody around you will potentially benefit from your departure. Explorers bring back good things. And remember: they laughed at Columbus. Or so we're told.
When you go, you don't go empty-handed. You take with you all the baggage of your life, in some form, and all the notions you've gathered over your years on the planet. Even if you end up on Barrie's island, you won't recognise it. He wouldn't, anyway. You're seeing reality through your eyes, doing it your way. And if you follow that Indian trail, you're going to get to someplace that you alone can find.
Take good notes. You can come back and tell about it. The others will thank you for the slide show.
No matter what time their watches are set to.
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