tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post4390494597159173588..comments2023-12-11T11:36:37.489+00:00Comments on Macmillan New Writers: In Praise of Anxietymattfwcurran.com Web Admin http://www.blogger.com/profile/13651266491906006561noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-30678609852326132342007-11-05T23:43:00.000+00:002007-11-05T23:43:00.000+00:00David, so glad you enjoyed The Mathematics of Love...David, so glad you enjoyed The Mathematics of Love. I'm struggling with the death-throes (labour pains?) of the next one, so it's wonderful to be reminded that people have been known to like my stuff.<BR/><BR/>Blog got diverted this evening, but something about anxiety is next on the list, complete with link, of course. I really like this blog.<BR/><BR/>EmmaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-69635358211914465642007-11-05T13:39:00.000+00:002007-11-05T13:39:00.000+00:00Great post. I, too, have writerly anxiety, but I h...Great post. I, too, have writerly anxiety, but I have lots of other anxieties too. If I have a great writing day I spend the time I would have spent worrying about writing worrying about how many biscuits I should eat instead. <BR/><BR/>I've long harboured a theory that everyone has exactly the same amount of worry in their lives. It's just broken down differently. I wrote a post about it under my nom de plume, The Blue Pootle, in my column for Whispers of Wickedness:<BR/><BR/>http://www.ookami.co.uk/html/blue_pootle_-_july_06.htmlnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398443646324855212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-91589334680716054982007-11-05T12:43:00.000+00:002007-11-05T12:43:00.000+00:00Hi David and RogerI was going to post something on...Hi David and Roger<BR/><BR/>I was going to post something on this, but I think between you, you’ve nailed the subject. <BR/><BR/>At times I’ve been outwardly confident about my writing, but the KFKD DJ has been playing the best tunes while I <EM>haven’t</EM> been writing, and it’s been too easy to listen to them while the dial was broken. Especially during the long, long pause between submission and decision. <BR/><BR/>During the wait for Macmillan New Writing to say yay or nay on <EM>The Horde of Mhorrer</EM>, the self-doubt jukebox played morbid songs at the rate of one every hour, and only the rival station – that of my wife, and a supporting crew of friends and family – have halted that descent into self-doubting despair.<BR/><BR/>I think writers who have the least self-doubt tend to be either utterly objective about their work or utterly self-deluded. The former is a handy tool, the latter is blissful ignorance. And as you’ve pointed out, middle ground can help but it can distracting. Perhaps that is why I’m always writing. <BR/><BR/>As Stephen King pointed out once in an introduction to a short story collection, he keeps writing because he’s afraid of the silence that could follow should he stop (but perhaps it is not the silence that he’s afraid of, but the songs the KFKD DJ spins?)mattfwcurran.com Web Admin https://www.blogger.com/profile/13651266491906006561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-60916214467021974362007-11-05T10:20:00.000+00:002007-11-05T10:20:00.000+00:00Here's a very interesting blog post from Jenn Ashw...Here's a very interesting <A HREF="http://jennashworth.blogspot.com/2007/11/shoe-anxiety.html" REL="nofollow">blog post from Jenn Ashworth</A>.<BR/><BR/>She has a slightly different, and very refreshing, perspective.<BR/><BR/>I don't think I am anxious when I am actually writing. I am anxious when I am about to write, or when I have written. But while I'm 'in the zone', nothing gets to me. That's why I loved your post so much, David, because you pinned that down and explained it.Roger Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08071467030127707462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-8395007344688268122007-11-05T01:25:00.000+00:002007-11-05T01:25:00.000+00:00Hey, Emma. You're right on target with that. If I'...Hey, Emma. You're right on target with that. If I'm doing my acrobatics on a tightrope and the main thing on my mind is "Do these pants make my butt look big?" I'm probably headed for a collision with the ground.<BR/><BR/>By the way, did I tell you I loved your book <I>The Mathematics of Love</I>? But, then, didn't pretty much everyone?David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-29139627232387985292007-11-04T19:03:00.000+00:002007-11-04T19:03:00.000+00:00That's the clearest description of the flow state ...That's the clearest description of the flow state I've met in ages, David, thank you.<BR/><BR/>Anxiety - hm - yes, I guess at some level we need a mechanism to key us up to the point of tackling something new and challenging. (Being a word-nerd, though, I'm not sure I'd quite call it 'anxiety', because to me that's a wholly negative, creativity-blocking state.) But doesn't it depend on the source of the anxiety? 'Will this get me another contract/good review/prize?' is disastrous, because it's external, and nothing to do with where your writing comes from. 'Yikes, can I actually make this all-consuming idea work, on paper, in this book?' is internal, it engages your writerly core and, as you say, tips you from merely getting on with it, into flow. I just wish I didn't always come to and find that half my toes are dead with cold.<BR/><BR/>EmmaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-45652262208970839722007-11-04T17:20:00.000+00:002007-11-04T17:20:00.000+00:00You're right. Education probably doesn't have anyt...You're right. Education probably doesn't have anything to do with it--but it's always nice to give the critic something to latch on to so he doesn't flounder about and knock over furniture.<BR/><BR/>Also useful when all else fails are things you can't do anything about, as these are always there for you:<BR/><BR/>1) I'm too old<BR/>2) I'm too young<BR/>3) I was raised in the wrong culture/city/country/century<BR/>4) I'm too short/tall<BR/>5) I'm too weird/normal<BR/><BR/>Those are just for the moments when you're desperate. We're writers, so we're usually capable of finding much more inventive worries. Mercury in Pisces, for example.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-91754419193086714622007-11-04T17:16:00.000+00:002007-11-04T17:16:00.000+00:00Tess Gerritson blogged recently on a similar topic...Tess Gerritson blogged recently on a similar topic, basically stating that anxiety is part of the drive necessary for success.Janethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600030574995481267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-58612606985154247442007-11-04T15:00:00.000+00:002007-11-04T15:00:00.000+00:00Spot-the-K-FCKed-on, David!Lately I've found that ...Spot-the-K-FCKed-on, David!<BR/><BR/>Lately I've found that the more anxious I am, the more I need to be writing, and the better the writing is when force myself to get the words down.<BR/><BR/>Though it's tempting to drink it away, ink, not alcohol, is the spirit that soothes.Jeremy Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11254147824518501318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-70425728402879758382007-11-04T10:41:00.000+00:002007-11-04T10:41:00.000+00:00That's brilliant, David. I shall now make peace wi...That's brilliant, David. I shall now make peace with my inner critic.<BR/><BR/>I sometimes wonder if my anxiety doesn't come from the fact that I didn't do English for A-level, or at university. Or that I only got a 'B' at O-level for English lit.<BR/><BR/>I don't really think any of that has anything to do with it.Roger Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08071467030127707462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5642795057392908919.post-90903219545068831662007-11-04T05:37:00.000+00:002007-11-04T05:37:00.000+00:00I know what you mean! That all consuming nervous e...I know what you mean! That all consuming nervous energy that is pushing us to write and write more! I am so happy Roger has floated this topic and you David throw in your bit. I thought I spoke for myself when I said writers are the most obsessive people in the world. Is blogging a bit of the same syndrome I wonder?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com