At a writing workshop in the New Mexico town of Capitan, mystery author Steven Havill explained how the key to writing is momentum. Well, that and three critical words he attributed to author John Grisham, “Butt to chair”. After you have brought your derriere to the chair to write, you then build momentum.
And it is that momentum that moves you into the unknown.
A picture beautifully scripted by author E.L. Doctorow was used to illustrate this point: “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
I have been living my life according to this headlights theory for some time. It’s the perfect metaphor for life, and especially for transition. Seeing your life as a road trip makes it feel more interesting. You don’t have to know exactly what it will look like. You just need direction. Beyond that, living in an attitude of curiosity makes the day an adventure, and more than that, kind of a trip. And that’s a good thing.
The key, I find, is to fuel up, accelerate, rest, and resume.
Great post! Two other books you might like on writing (and, by extension, completing any massive undertaking) are by Stephen King:
On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft
and Anne Lamott:
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life