Wednesday 24 November 2010

Imagination, creativity and autobiography

The balance, or lack of it, between the elements in the title of this post might go some way towards explaining why I've been struggling with my writing of late. There has, I have to say, been too much autobiography, albeit fictionalised to a greater or lesser degree, and not enough imagination. I've heard it said that all writing is autobiography, up to a point, and, up to now, that has been pretty much true in my case. That ties me down rather in what I feel I can write about with any authority, because I haven't really had an especially varied or interesting life, and while I've got some capacity for imagination, I wouldn't claim it as my strongest suit. I've been writing on and off today, and made a start on yet another story, which is coming along, and which I've seen a way of linking to another story I was writing about a year or so ago, in pre-blog days (on good old paper, in longhand, with a cheap pencil!), but which I have to admit still has quite a lot of my real life in it, chopped up and reconstituted, as it were. I'll try to persevere, because I do really want to try and come up with something readable, encouraged, maybe, by the relative success of one or two things I wrote a few months ago. As I've probably said before, if I can do it once, I can do it again.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

2 comments:

  1. Hey Sammy!! Listen, just write... See what comes out of your heart and head, and don't stop until you get tired... Then, go back and edit, if you need to... I find that thinking about it too much, is what bogs us down... It should be more of a release than a thoughtful venture, at least in the initial stages...IMHO, lol...

    We are all so different with our experiences in life, it doesn't matter, on some level, that you think your life has been a bore-- it may not be to someone looking in...

    Well, good luck!! Persevere!! If nothing else, it keeps you in the mix!! luv, tman<3

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  2. Hello Tony
    You're more right than you think about what's bogging me down - thinking about it too much, wanting it to come out right and look and sound professional. Perfectionism, in a word. One of my most abiding personality traits, going back to when I was in primary school, if not earlier. I will keep trying, though, because the days when the muse is present and everything flows, few and far between as they might be, are their own reward.

    Love & best wishes
    Sammy B

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