BRIDGET WHELAN writer

for writers and readers….

Why Doing Other Things is a Vital Part of Writing Jessie Greengrass QUOTES FOR WRITERS

For days I would spend my writing time at my computer, typing and deleting the same sentence over and over again, unable to understand why it wouldn’t come good—nearly in tears, sometimes, with frustration; and then, furious with myself for wasting time on something which didn’t seem to be work, I would go for a walk. At which point, of course, the answer would present itself. It has taken me almost all of the intervening years to realize that the walk is a part of the writing. Perhaps some people can think on purpose while staring at a screen, but I am not one of them. I can’t generate an idea consciously. Instead, I have to perform a kind of sleight of hand called doing other things.

Jessie Greengrass in Learning, Practice, and Repetition: Why the Act of Writing Is Work

Phpto credit: Dave Goudreau on Unsplash

4 comments on “Why Doing Other Things is a Vital Part of Writing Jessie Greengrass QUOTES FOR WRITERS

  1. Sarah Waldock
    February 27, 2022

    or write something entirely different – a poetic satire on the government, some daft bit of nonsense for fanfiction, the first chapter of one of the other plot bunnies you have hanging around.

  2. bridget whelan
    February 27, 2022

    Plot Bunnies! Love it

  3. Rae Longest
    March 1, 2022

    Reblogged this on Literacy and Me.

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This entry was posted on February 27, 2022 by in Quotes and tagged , , .

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