Day 133 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author, Dane F. Baylis

ANNOUNCEMENT

1. I am a believer in the never ending process of learning. In that cause I would like to put out an invitation to poets living in the Ventura, California area. Wednesday nights, for the next six weeks, at 7 PM in Ventura at the Vita Art Center, 432 North Ventura Avenue, there will be an ongoing poetry workshop. This is a great opportunity to sharpen your craft and gather with other writers in the pursuit of excellence.

 

 

 

 

ONE MORE TIME

"You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."

Neil Gaiman

 

I took a look at the last couple of posts and figured there was a need to tie it together and move on. At least for this week. As I was casting about for a starting point I came across the above quote by Neil Gaiman. There it was, my entire summation in one quote.

 

All the rules I've been spewing for two days break down to the simplest of things. So many people in today's world live in fear of not being connected, of not having the latest buzz, of not being linked in to their peer or social networks. Twenty-four hours a day, they live in fear that they will miss something. Exactly what, is anybody's guess. God forbid, though,  they're not jacked into every form of sensory pablum on the planet, just so they can answer "yes" when some half-witted schmuck asks, "Have you heard?" In the meantime, they are so over-loaded with external noise, they couldn't produce an original thought with a laxative.

 

That is why shutting out the drumbeat of the world is SO IMPORTANT for a writer. It is that opportunity to be bored and allow the mind to wander and contemplate old ground and new vistas that opens the doors of the imagination. It is that uninterrupted, unfiltered, irresponsibility to the world and all its yammering crap that frees writers to do what they have set out to do...WRITE!

 

That's why you need to shut out all the external sources. You need to know that your chosen path is a selfish one and, in order to accomplish the task you've set for yourself, the world can piss off until the job's done. When you close the door to the office, or back bedroom, or basement, or wherever you've decided to set up shop, the world has no further claim on you until you've met your goal.

 

I understand the demands that the outside can make on time. If you're not one of the lucky ones who is making a living at writing then you probably have a day job. If you're in a relationship, then there's the other half of that equation. If you have children YOUR time pretty much isn't. I know, I've been down all those roads with you. But when I close the door to my office/guest room then the world can hold its collective breath until I open it again.

 

Why should I feel this sense of entitlement? Simply, I've taken on that job everybody else thinks they could do without even trying. Well, they're not trying and I, and my fellow slaves of the keyboard, are the only ones getting the damned thing done! We're grinding out the poetry, the short fiction, the essays, novellas, novels, screenplays, biographies, and daily blogs because it's just so frigging easy!

 

If you want easy, open the door and let them in...ALL OF THEM! Listen to their chatter, follow their gossip, try to sift gold from their tons of bullshit. When you're done, take a look in the bottom of the sieve. I'll bet you a dime all you'll have is fine grained fertilizer. But, as soon as the rest of them get off their collective lazy asses, I can stop doing the easiest job in the world and get some rest!

 

 

Meantime...live, love, write.

 

 

Want to follow or subscribe to this blog? There are gadgets for that on the right side of the page. You can leave comments in the form below. I can be reached directly at dbaylis805@gmail.com . You can also find links to some of the sites I visit from time to time on the right. I'm also looking for submissions to the Your Work/Your Love page. Authors retain all rights.

 

 

Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author.