Capturing Chaos

Shortly before National Novel Writing Month began, I decided to find out what writing 3000 words in one day would be like. I planned to write that much each day for the first three days, and wanted to see if it was really possible.

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I didn’t bother with plot or characters. I just sat down to do free writing about the act of writing. It didn’t matter whether the result was garbage or genius. The doing was the important thing. So I did it, and put it away without even looking at it. The idea was to give it long enough to be completely unfamiliar and then see if there are any gems to be dug out.

So here’s the beginning, very lightly edited. Surprisingly, it makes sense. Is there more like it further on? I’ll find out tomorrow.

What does it take to write 3,000 words a day? Is it possible to do it if you’re always in danger of running out of energy, or if your brain just tends to turn off at unexpected moments, refusing to turn back on, no matter how desperately you want it to? Is there such a thing as a muse, and does it fail or come to your aid at its own whim? What do we do for inspiration when inspiration fails us.?

Life intrudes, or it provides the inspiration. The event or object may be the same in either case. It’s just what you decide about it, how you use it, through which filter you view it. The perspective is always shifting, and it’s something you can do voluntarily, or just let it happen, however it will. In either case, something different will come out of it, but never quite what you might have expected. So expectations are something you need to get rid of. They stand in the way, and are more likely to lead to disappointment than to satisfaction with whatever you’ve accomplished.

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