Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem-Newton’s first law of writing February 24, 2014

Filed under: Poetry,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:30 am
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It’s not about writer’s block

It’s about writer’s inertia

An object at rest, stays at rest;

A writer not writing, remains not writing.

Something must get it moving.

An object in motion, stays in motion;

A writer writing, remains writing,

Unless an outside force acts upon it.

Seek the energy to start the motion

And stay in motion

So the book gets written.

.

.

Diana Gabaldon once said that she tries to write every day, because if she doesn’t,  an inertia develops and it’s hard to get to it.  I have found this true!  Since the frenzy of drafting two novels in November, it’s been hard to do more than outline recently.  I know that if I just get into the rhythm of the writing, it will propel itself, but the novel writing rhythm is proving elusive these days.   I’ve been having no trouble keeping up the blog though, providing a poem for your daily reading.  That’s better than nothing!

 

22 Responses to “poem-Newton’s first law of writing”

  1. It’s those dratted outside forces that always derail me, things over which I have no control, and then I find myself back at square one, with no movement or momentum, utterly inert. This last round, though, I managed to stay in motion for most of a year before the outside forces got me. 🙂

    • Oh, good for you! It’s amazing how much I can get done in November when I’m doing NaNoWriMo, and then once I lie, exhausted at the end of it, I can’t seem to get to it at all!

  2. narble Says:

    Butt in chair = writer’s inertia

    • My butt is usually in the chair, but it’s amazing how many other things I can do besides what I should be doing! I recently heard about magic programs that turn off your access to specific social media for a set amount of time. That is probably something worth exploring!

  3. Keep going, a thought is never wasted. I find left brain-ing things really helps. Suddenly it all tumbles out 😉

    • I just need to write. All the planning is there. I know exactly what scenes I need to be writing, I just need to actually write them. I think that’s part of the problem. I don’t usually outline so thoroughly. It’s as if all the fun is gone out of it, now that I know what happens. :-/

  4. get it bird don’t let it stop

  5. beingcreativebc Says:

    Beautiful and inspiring words. I need to remember this myself. I have a book, well two actually, that I need to get writing and I have been writing but not writing for them. Thank you for the wonderful post!

  6. Teela Hart Says:

    Ha…Nothing truer has ever been said.

  7. melindafoshat Says:

    Thanks for sharing! I know first hand how true this is! I guess it’s a good thing that I haven’t been able to stop writing these past few days…after all, it’s been far too long.

  8. midnighthues Says:

    You are right! Good one 🙂
    Reading fuels writing and keeps that pen smooth 🙂

  9. kaymetviner Says:

    I needed to be reminded of this, and I love that you did it via poem! I used to at least journal every day, and I felt so much more able to write generally. I need to get back to that place!

  10. Susan D. Says:

    I needed this, as I am coming off of 5 months of no writing…


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