Finding That Sweet Spot for Writing
Every creative has their own process for bringing something into being. Mine has changed significantly over the years; before, I would stumble during the last few months of the year due to holidays and massive amounts of traveling to visit family. My head space could never take all the traveling and family stuff well enough to block out time to write.
Now that I'm back home in Kansas City near family, I travel less, which means the holiday season takes up less head space. It's easier for me to divvy up my time in a creative way without sacrificing time with the relatives.
It took me awhile to find my proper writing place in the new apartment. First I tried different sides of the table in my cramped dining room.
No dice.
Then I tried sitting in the living room chair. Again, nada.
It took me herniating, and then rupturing, the disc between my L5 and L4 vertebrae to find the perfect place to create: right there on the floor.
It's been over half a year since the surgery and I still find myself splayed out on the floor working on the next book. I find it strangely comfortable and the position puts me in a mental place that's conducive for massive output. Since January, I've completed 6 stories totaling close to 100 pages and I can tell you that these pieces are easily some of the strangest I've ever written and I love that.
On the writing front, I had an older piece finally published over at New Dead Families. Zack Wentz, the editor, saw promise in the story and offered up some editorial suggestions over multiple emails. Without his help, the story would not be nearly as good as it is now. He made some great points and nearly all his edits appear in "Los Comederos," which you can read right here - http://newdeadfamilies.com/links/current/current-2/los-comederos-by-adam-bucho-rodenberger/
You've got a great flow. I enjoyed reading the story attached to your link as much as I've enjoyed reading Louis L'amours short stories . Good stuff.
much appreciated! i was REAL happy with the way that one finally came out on the finished end. i had always wanted to do something set in a desert, but with a more fabulist/magical realism aspect to it. something concrete, but had some tiny element of something otherworldly attached to it :)
you are one heck of a fighter, glad your doing well.. :)
I went and saw Niel Gaimen talk in Houston on Saturday. He said the secret is to write anyway because when he went back to edit he couldn't tell you what he wrote when he was inspired and when he hated writing. That's hardly groundbreaking advice but hearing him say it struck a nerve because I'm famous for fucking off when I'm not feeling it. Now I'm even more determined to write when I don't want to.
oh i don't disagree with that at all. the easiest way to make sure you write is just planting your ass in the chair. that's paraphrasing someone's famous quote about it, but the gist is the same. but i'd sit in my chair for hours and nothing would come. once i was flat out on the floor, it's like i couldn't turn it off, ergo...my writing place in the new apartment.