October 12, 1998
5:31 a.m.
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REMINDER Send me my front page with the number 15,000 on it and receive(*) a free copy of volume 14 of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future complete with my story "The Disappearance of Josie Andrew"    I suppose it's only fitting that I take a moment and thank a couple of you for your e-mail in regard to the "Well, it's not Clarion" attitude a few of my prior posts have carried. I've had three (I think) folks rattle my cage about that--including Christopher Rowe, who kind-heartedly requested Lisa's e-mail address so he could "...skip my ham handed attempts at soothing your fragile ego and write Lisa C. a note asking her to smack you one up side the head for me. . ." The whole thing sounded better than that--don't worry. Besides, if you know Christopher that's just his Kentucky way of saying "Way to go, boy." Consider me corrected, eh? The weekend was pretty productive, I guess. Coulda been better, but still I managed to critique a story for Brian Plante and get a few manuscripts ready for the mail. Also updated all my submission records and caught up on e-mail. And I started a new short story that's come together over last night and this morning. I've had the basics planned out since before I left for LA, but I needed that orthogonal idea that could set it off into the realm of interesting. Last night I got the basic thought that made me sit up and go "hmmmm . . . ." This morning, I've refined it down to where I think it'll work. And now I'm invigorated by the idea of writing it. I like that. The WotF workshop called this process "hooking the writer," you know, playing with an idea until there's this sudden urgency to write the story. Putting form of a story down until the fire flickers and catches, and the imagination runs with it. For me, this is the feeling that makes being a writer so much fun--the burning need to put something down on paper regardless of whether it's any good or not, the pure joy of finding out what happens next. Yes, usually I am in control of this, but occasionally things change as they move from my body to my fingertips, and I'm always will ing to consider the idea that I might have been wrong in the first place. So this is among the fun parts. Maybe this is even the feeling that makes someone a writer--I don't really know. All I know is that I've got 1,000 words down so far, and should get another 500 or so before I call it a morning. And that I'll be here tomorroew morning, working to get another 1,500 words. And the morning after. Until it's done. Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"Like the rest of us, Jack [London] had his ups and sub-zeros, but unlike many of us he knew the correct way to combat them. He knew that work was the only solution, and far more than that, he knew how to get to work. He knew what to do when his pockets sagged with emptiness. He knew that sitting around bewailing a writer's lot was a poor method of creation." L. Ron Hubbard |
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