The Foo Fighters Learned To Walk Again; I Had To Learn How To Write
Posted 12th August 2011
Category: Life But Maybe Not As We Know It Genres: N/A
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So for two weeks a ban on reading was pretty much enforced. Not completely, because I could still read if I wished to, but between busy days, working in the evening, and other times when I just wanted to chill with a coffee and music, there wasn’t really much time. I became very used to my new existence very quickly and when it suddenly ended and I fell back down to earth with an almighty crash, I realised that I would have to pick up where I left off. But it has been, and still is, difficult.
The first few days after possibly the best fun I’ve ever had in my life, I did not want to read. And it wasn’t just that I wanted to revel in the afterglow as it were, I actually found I couldn’t read. Gone was the ability to not just choose a book but to know how to choose a book, and gone was the knowledge of how to read a book overall.
Yesterday I finally got round to reading a book and today I finished it. A short book, an author I am already enamored with, a book I knew for certain would be good. And it was, but then came the review.
Now I can’t say I’ve had no writing practice for two weeks because that would be so far from the truth – it’d be quicker to run a light year and back. I’ve written an essay and copious notes about my trip, but my review expertise, or rather expertise when it comes to my own style of reviewing, was gone. I will not be surprised if, come the day I post my review of Shannon Stacey’s Exclusively Yours, you all notice a difference in my writing.
Writing is hard, writing is a pain in the you-know-what, but never would I have thought writing after you’ve been writing for the vast majority of the last two weeks, would be so complicated.
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August 14, 2011, 6:39 pm
I’ve had moments like that where I write a review and think, “I do not sound like me.” It’s not because of a break in writing either. It’s just some days I have “it” and some days I don’t. The best advice I’ve ever heard though was “keep writing” even when it’s hard because it will come back.
Charlie: That’s a good point, there can be random days when things don’t work. Great advice, it’s intimidating but must be done!