Thursday 6 July 2017

A Moment of Clarity (or, How to Write a Book Without Trying)

I really enjoy writing and maintaining this blog. I neither need nor want to overthink why that might be; suffice to say I spend a good portion of my time working on it.  It makes me happy.

Back in January I decided that Monday of every week would be my "writing day".  This seemed like a great idea at the time.  The only way to do something is to take the time to do it; or rather, to make the time to do it.  Dedicating one day a week purely to writing was a luxury I could afford, writing a book about veganism and philosophy was (and is) something I very much want to do, so why not indulge?

And so I did.  A few weeks later, Tuesday became writing day as well.  Now there were two days out of every seven I could spend writing my book.  I'd have it finished by the end of the year.



Well: nope.  It worked for a while, perhaps a month or so, but then I lapsed.  Monday became reading day, rather than writing day; which was nice, and I started to sort myself out a tidy, size-y reading list.  Then Tuesday stopped being writing day altogether.  It became do-other-things-day.  In a way, it became avoid-writing-day.  Then Monday, likewise.  I began to sabotage my own better self.  Why this might be, I have no clear idea.  So that was that, there weren't any writing days any more.  "How's your book going?" a few people I'd told I was writing one would ask.  I'd say something vague, or vaguely impressive, or just change the subject.

Last the obvious hit me.  Obvious things are almost never obvious, at least to me.  It's some kind of birth defect - but the thought was this: put your book on your blog.  Duh.

So, that's what I've decided to do.  Over the next few days I'll put up the material I've got so far on a dedicated page, as is, and allow for an ongoing editing and expansion of what I have until it becomes an actual book.  No more compartmentalised time: just do everything now.  I hope this might generate some interest, perhaps even encouragement, and almost certainly some criticism.  It seems like the way to go. No point waiting for it to be perfect, of even complete, because it never will be.





Update 09/07/17: Started posting the book today, which I explain here and put the book on its own page here.
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