The Pure Consciousness of Writing

It seems I'm always writing something.  I keep 2 journals.  One is more of we did this, we did that, memories to keep.  The other is more of a writing journal.  Just stuff I want to write, but not put into a project, no writing prompts, nothing like that.  I write for work.  I do poem critiques.  I edit, publish, so there's writing there.  I'm also almost always working on a poetry project (chapook, poem submissions specifically written for a contest or theme issue, books.)  I usually have a short story going too or a novel length work.  I write articles for one of the local papers.  I write song lyrics for my guitar group. 

I'm always, always writing.

I've noticed, though, sometimes I get stuck, I can't continue, I want to scrap it all, don't know how to move characters forward, can't think of the right word to finish the poem, and so on.  When that happens, like most writers I'm sure I get kind of annoyed and think I'll never finish.  If I step back, if I just be then usually something happens or I come across something that missing piece that I can use to pull me out of the stalled state I'm in on a particular project.  It simply seems to happen.  I have to remember to look for the opportunities that move the writing forward!

Writing without writing is writing. 

Thinking about what you want to do with a story, a poem can not just help you finish it but also make it better.  Jotting down ideas or even words can propel your work to the end.

I've been working on a longer piece of fiction and was about to give up.  At the same time, while cleaning out one of my bookshelves I found a book loaned to me by a friend.  I decided to read a little of it and it simply happens to have thoughts on part of what my project is about.  A little coincidental, maybe?  For me, yes because it's not along the lines of what I normally write.

Write in consciousness, we should all aspire to that!