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Writer's pictureRobert Lynch

Passion

The transition back to working three days and writing two days per week has been about as rocky as I expected. I am not good at change, and starting a new routine requires some effort.


If the only change was the daily routine it would be fine, but last week Easter took centre stage, with me working three days of the long weekend and driving up to my brother’s place on the Sunday and back on the Monday. Six hours of driving in 24 hours will knock you around. I got home on Monday and had a nap. Then I worked on Tuesday, and half the week was already gone. Instead of frantically trying to get back on track for the week, I decided to focus on getting the editing done for Solar Flare Volume 1.


Coming in around 31,000 words, just copying and pasting the stories all into the one file took a while. Friday, I began the process of line editing. I’ve never had to edit such a large piece of work, and it is powerfully boring. I went through 32 pages (out of 115) of the first pass in about 3 hours. Then I went downstairs and built a cabinet. My procrastination was strong. When we moved into the townhouse, I decided I was going to custom build a cabinet for the downstairs toilet. Just a simple thing to hold toilet paper and, more importantly, hold my subscriptions of New Scientist, Analog, and Asimov’s Science Fiction off of the toilet floor. I bought all the materials the week we moved in, that was nearly two years ago now. Line editing is so boring I am doing historical chores.



Oh well, not every part of writing is the fun part. I’ll push through and get it all done this week. Then I just need to write the forward and modify the front cover. Then publish it on all the places. There’s not going to be a lot of fun parts this week, I think.


I think I was listening to the Writer’s Ink podcast, and one of the guests was saying that the etymology of the word ‘passion’ tracks the original meaning as ‘A willingness to suffer for what you love.’ Too often today, we associate passion with just intense feeling, but being as Easter was in the air as I was listening to the episode, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the ‘Passion of the Christ.’ The name of the Easter story. It’s a very good example of passion’s original meaning. I doubt that the ordeal this week will come close to suffering as such, but I’ll suck up the boredom this week with the end goal in mind. It’s always easier to fight off Resistance when you’re armed with the long view.


The creative part of writing is the fun part for me. I can get into that flow state where time no longer matters when I’m there. Editing and publishing can be quite dry, but I try to challenge myself to tasks. My competitive spirit is pretty weak, but I have found that it is a useful tool for keeping me on task for some of the more mechanical parts of writing. Much like fitness goals, the way to build long term benefits is whatever will have adherence.


This coming week isn’t just a week for getting Solar Flare closer to publication; I also want to get a week ahead with my weekly content – a goal that has eluded me for years. I need to get my bum in the chair and get some writing done.

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