-->
The Trouble with Writing
Jeffrey
Blount
The trouble
with writing is that it requires a lot of time and much effort. I always have the desire and effort is
not an issue, but finding time is indeed a dilemma. I have a full-time job and an amazing family that I love to
spend time with. I like tennis
too. I play at least twice a
week. And don’t stand in front of my
television during football season!
Over the
years, I have tried to put my writing aside because there was just no space in
my life, and the game of agents and publishing got tiresome. I put the desire and the dream up for
adoption. But the kid just kept
finding his way home and pretty soon, I just had to let him stay. I had to find a way to make it right
between the two of us.
I set aside
some time. In the morning, after
dropping off my son and daughter at school and my wife’s departure for work and
also late at night, after everyone was in bed. But the times weren’t absolute. Changing family schedules and work demands often imposed
themselves. The question arose,
how do I link the erratic moments together to create some kind of flow or
rhythm to my writing which I believe is so very important when trying to
maintain an even voice throughout a novel? In the end, I found I had to link them together by keeping
the characters alive and with me at all times so that
when I did find the time to sit down and write, they didn’t have to be conjured
up. They were already with me.
They lived
in my head all day long, growing, changing, reacting, failing and succeeding. As I drove, whole scenes
developed. On my lunch hour and
while in the carpool line, new characters appeared and plot lines came to
fruition. When I first started, I
carried notecards with me or I wrote on napkins and the corners of newspaper
pages. Then I got smart and
realized my smartphone had apps for this.
After a while, it seemed like I was always writing.
When I
finally found the time to sit down and physically write, transferring the notes
from the phone to the computer became part of keeping that flow alive. Also, because time was short, meaning I
didn’t have time to walk around the block and commune with myself to create the
proper mood for writing; I had to find ways to get my head immediately into the
process in order to maximize the use of the time I had set aside.
After
transferring my notes, I always read the previous chapter before moving
on. Then I turned on the
music. Music has always been a
part of my moods, both good and bad.
Certain songs make me happy, certain songs make me sad and certain songs
make me contemplative. So if I was
planning to write about a very sad event, I would listen to appropriate music
while reading the previous chapter and many times I would continue listening as
I began a new scene or chapter of my book. Sometimes one grouping of songs could take me through the
whole manuscript. For instance,
much of Hating Heidi Foster was written while listening to the soundtrack from
the movie Road to Perdition.
Also, if
your writing time is short, enhancing focus can be critical. I write in a darkened room with only
the light from my laptop and a desk lamp.
Everything else around me falls away. No visual distractions lead to great moments of
concentration.
And finally,
I leave each writing session with an idea of where I want the story to go
next. It gives my characters
places to go while I’m going through the daily business of my life.
Bio
Jeffrey
Blount is an Emmy award-winning television director and an award recipient for
scriptwriting on multiple documentary projects. Born and raised in rural Virginia, he now lives in
Washington, DC with his wife, Jeanne Meserve. They have two children, Julia and
Jake.
