This past weekend the weather was awful. It rained all day Saturday and there were thunderstorms and tornadoes. Throughout the day I heard from many of my friends who were experiencing the same kind of weather in different parts of the Southeast.
Some people were keeping up with the storms on a TV weather forecasting channel. In other words, they “hunkered down” to ride out the storms. Some folks re-arranged their days in order to work around the predicted times of severe weather; others just went about their regularly scheduled day, while some treated it almost like a snow day and stayed inside altogether.
I thought it was very interesting that there were many diverse reactions to the same weather. It made me think about how differently we all approach life and how it is reflected in our writing. Our reactions to things like severe weather are often indicative of our perspective on life and writing. Do you “hunker down” to ride out the storms of life? Do you just stop writing when you run into a problem until the problem is resolved? Do you assess the situation and try to make adjustments? Do you do what you need to while still considering that there may be a bumpy ride? In other words, when you write your way into a dilemma, do you try to work it out even if the process is unpleasant? (Like when your writing partner wants to cut an entire scene out!) Or do you just go on with whatever you have planned and hope for the best?
Wow! I never thought of my reaction to the weather as a metaphor for how I treat my writing life. Great analogy!!
ReplyDeleteSo, this is extremely weird because I do the exact opposite for each one. When the weather is bad, I go on with what I'm doing. Of course, I'm not an idiot. I'll be out of the weather, but I'm usually not afraid of my own shadow unless I'm told a tornado is coming. But when it comes to my writing, a rejection, a judge's unsavory comment can completely derail me.
This is definitely much food for thought. It appears I've got to get these two parts of me in line and I know which one is going to get the boot. ;)
Ok, I do exactly the same thing in bad weather as I do in life - I face it head-on with no thought except continuing with what I am doing. On Saturday I stood on my front porch and watched a cell go over my house while everyone else was in the basement (so it was stupid but wow was it thrilling!). Writing is like that for me - I just go forward full-steam ahead. I never second-guess myself (maybe I should). You made a great analogy - we write as we live.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was terrified of bad weather. When my grandmother was a little girl her brother got hit in the head by a bell during a storm and it killed him. So my grandmother instilled her fear in my mother. Oddly enough, neither one of them was afraid of bells.
ReplyDeleteI respect the weather but I do not fear it. I do fear, however, sitting down and my hands on the keyboard and having nothing to say.
Hey Gals,
ReplyDeletethanks to Kathy and Cheryl for sharing with us. I already knew Pantster should be afraid of bells but isn't. It always makes me laugh!
I am sort of a mix in that how I treat both the weather and the writing depends a lot on what else is going on in my life. Last weekend I adjusted my schedule to allow for the bad weather but other times I have plowed right on into it. I once told my mother as I left home during a tornado warning, "I have windshield wipers." Luckily God protects idiot teenagers.
I am glad that you can see how attitudes in other parts of our lives might influence our writing attitude.
Cheryl-Love the "we write as we live" comment