Are you obsessed with the idea of doing something, but never do anything about it?
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valdasta (
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September 1st, 2009
I think I am obsessed with the idea of writing, but not with writting itself. I have a list of ideas of books I would like to write, but to actually sit down and plunk away at it is another story (no pun intended).
My problem maybe just a lack of discipline and diligence. I want to write, but I am not taking the time. Ahhhhrrg!
I take this oath:
“I do solemnly swear, before these witnesses on Fluther, that from this day forward, to take steps towards fulfilling my goal to write; I will take the time each day to set aside at least twenty minutes to write, so help me, friends on Fluther.”
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31 Answers
Yes. I have several obsessions like this.
Yes. Furthering my knowledge in certain programs.
Yes
I’ve always wanted to start my own one man band but I’ve never bothered to play the guitar properly and I cba to learn the drums/bass.
I want to be a published writer. In a way, I am. I write a lot here, and people see it and some even read it. Anyway, I’ve been copying my comments to a file, with the idea of perhaps organizing it some day, and trying to make it into some kind of coherent whole. I’ve got more than 120 thousand words—moving into long novel range—now. It’s time to start organizing and seeing what’s there. But am I doing that? Hah! It’s so much easier just to keep on answering random questions.
Yep. I want to be an animator, for one. And I don’t know if you’ve seen how much time and effort goes into things like that…. but… Yeah, as a one person job, it would take years just to make a short.
For the past year I’ve been obsessed with changing my life. There’s nothing horribly wrong with it, but I know I can do better, and I haven’t been doing anything to accomplish that. Until a week ago. Take a deep breath and dive in. Once you get going you don’t want to stop.
I am obsessed with traveling, but lack the funds, and time off work to actually do the traveling that I want to do. I would love to spend a few weeks in Iceland. I am planning to travel to Northern Canada, or Northern Alaska sometime in the winter to watch the Aurora Borealis. I find it so upsetting, that there are so many places that I will never be able to visit on this planet. I am sure that I will have a lot of opportunity to go many places. But, even after all those, there will still be tons of other places that I miss out on.
I also have the writing obsession. I start and stop journals all the time, and have tons of ideas that I would love to turn into a book. But I lack to technical skills to turn something in to what I envision it needs to be. I guess instead of making excuses I could just keep writing, but it all just seems like such junk.
@Piper_Brianmind – Things are easier, and will continue to be so, to make your animations.
I was all the way to having been accepted into the Disney internship program before I said no because of the location and I can also still do my own project when I get the time.
@lukiarobecheck Why can’t you combine the two and write about your travels? Then I think you can write off teh travel expenses from your taxes.
It is what gets me up in the morning. And, at the end of the day, I review what I now need to try to do tomorrow because I did not get to do it.
@Bri_L From a poor person’s perspective; Where should I start?
Add me to the writers pile. That’s been a lifelong dream, and one I only dabble with. Add in several other ambitious projects, all half- or un-done, and that’s me in a nutshell. :(
I admire those of you who have decided to bite the bullet and do something about your dreams!
You might be interested in this thread. It’s a place where we check in weekly to post progress on our goals. All are welcome!
Lurve for a great question! I too obsess about writing, I even start and then something happens. A fear of completion maybe!?
@ShanEnri Who knows. But I’ve started literally hundreds of stories, and never was able to finish a single one. I just get stuck, and there’s no way out. Farthest I ever got was about 5 chapters. People really liked it, too. They were really pissed off when I stopped updating, but what can ya do? When you’re stuck, you’re stuck.
@Piper_Brianmind I get to 2 chapters and the same thing as always. I start seeing things that could be different or better, but end up obsessing which turns into a never ending stream of things that need to be changed. When I’m doing good, I just stop for some reason! I want to do it, but…
@ShanEnri Yep. And then you change a certain thing to something better, only to later realize (TOO late, as your original idea has been scrapped) that it creates a hole in the sense of the story and nothing really fits together as a whole the way it should. We overthink, over-edit and turn our stories into swiss cheese. It’s a tragic tale indeed.
One thing I wish I could do, or be given the option to do, is take someone else’s FINISHED story that they’re not happy with, and write it in my own style. Or, write a collaborative story, where two people can feed off each other’s ideas and have a less chance of getting stuck or too far ahead of themselves. Plus, it’d be alot of fun. One person writes the first chapter, next person writes the second, and so on. It’d keep EVERYONE guessing, including the authors.
@Piper_Brianmind
@ShanEnri
Both of you should check out “On Writing” by Stephen King (doesn’t matter if you are not a fan of his work or not). It is an excellent book about the craft. If I understand him correctly, he does not plan ahead of time what will happen in his stories. He allows the characters to take on a life of their own. In other words, the characters dictate the story not him.
I did write a short memoir for a friend of mine…turned out to be a hit on a small scale. His whole family found out about it and I had to make them copies (aprox. 40-page booklet). There may be hope for me yet.
My biggest problem is genre…I have too many interests.
@Piper_Brianmind I too would like to do a collaborative book with someone! At one time I was trying to help someone and then she decided to cut me off! Took my ideas and ran with them! Haven’t seen any books in her name so maybe she just lost interest!
@valdasta I’ll have to look for that one! There’s another author that has a book out about writing, I just don’t remember, but Dean Koontz is popping in my head! Thanks for that! I have a lot of interests too and have been trying to find a way to unite them into one story! Should be interesting to say the least! lol Good luck to both of you in your writing efforts, maybe we’ll be reading your books someday!
@ShanEnri Oh I would be so fucking pissed, man.. But I guess it’s good she never made anything out of it. Although, maybe you could’ve sued if she had.
@valdasta That’s what I was trying to do. Let the characters dictate the story. All I came up with, alot of the time, was a first page, and then just let them all run wild. And they did.. briefly.. then they got tired and said they were goin to take a nap.. and I never saw them again. Stupid flaky fictional people.
@Piper_Brianmind I thought about writing a book about characters giving the writer a problem…I believe it has been done before. I even started it; the characters were all sitting in a waiting room. They are still there!
@valdasta I think people generally look down on it when writers have their characters break the fourth wall. Unless it’s a fanfic. But people generally look down on fanfics too.
Here is a sub-Fluther: @Piper_Brianmind what is a “fanfic”? I like to write, but I am by no means an expert on the subject.
If you say, “people don’t like it”, I will leave it alone.
@valdasta A fanfiction. They tend to be erotic but aren’t required to be. And are usually quite ridiculous. Like.. A fanfic of Star Wars might depict princess Leia (sp) engaging in an alien lesbian orgy which is interrupted by Darth Vader, whose Death Star is then destroyed by princess Leia’s nipple lasers. I’m not trying to offend anyone who writes fanfics that are NOT like this, but a lot of them ARE. A not-so-erotic fanfic can be good, and well-written, but I don’t make a habit of reading them. I just get linked to them sometimes. Put bluntly, a fanfic is where a fan of a certain franchise writes a story within the general setting of that franchise and puts their own twist on it.
@Piper_Brianmind maybe you misunderstood me. I wouldn’t want to spin off anyone else’s work. It would be something along the lines of an element of the story. The “flash-back”, is an example.
I was working on a story about a writer who interacts with his characters. Can’t think of any examples (it is late), but I am sure it has been done…Oh yes, seen it on Bugs Bunny once!
I wasn’t saying you would. I was saying that people who do would garner less criticism for the technique. You could flip it a certain way to make it interesting, though. For example, maybe the writer is going insane and is taking hallucinogens, so the traits and artistic visions behind his characters that are within himself, come into ‘plain view’ in his skewed consciousness, and he over time develops very complex relationships with these hallucinations, who eventually lead him to realize many things about himself, and maybe how to fix himself. But after he does so, they disappear. He has trouble accepting that he has purged his insanity, because it all seemed so real at the time, and he misses these characters. Shit, amidst this rambling, I think I want to go write it.
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