Abandoning My Art

In September 2014 I started attending a creative writing class to motivate me and to focus my attention on writing and so that one day of the week, at least, I could call myself a writer.

My writing consisted of editing my book, writing for my MA and this blog I started in a effort to stimulate learning and a postitive outlook and motivation. On the 29th of September I set out to do One Thing Every Day that scared me, including submitting my book to agents. On the 3rd of October in  Yesterday's Fear I talked about the crisis of finding something lacking in my book I couldn't identify and when I did figure it out, how the editing process opened up again. On the 18th of October I wrote a post Eating the Elephant (having given the first 3 chapters to people to read) discussing the fear of it being read out loud in class and getting feedback. It all went surprisingly well and the feedback was useful so I set out to start work again on the first three chapters for submission based on the feedback. I then started thinking about the rest of the book and how it lacked the polish the first chapters had got. On the 9th of December in The Art of Writing: SMART Blogging and Elephant Eating I set a SMART goal to be achieved by the 6th of January, to get the rest of the book up to the same standard. Again this deadline passed, for various reasons, although I was still writing and working through issues in the book. 

I am eating the elephant one bite at a time, but its taking longer than I expected. Whether its because the elephant is larger than I thought, or parts are unpallitable or because some bits need a lot more chewing than others, its all the same.

On the 24th of January, preparing to go to my writing class I thought about why I still had so much to do with my book. Why I couldn't even figure out what it was I had to do. Why I couldn't even see some parts of the elephant I was trying to eat.

I realised that there was a problem with the ending, and while I showered, ate my cereal, travelled on the bus to class I came up with, not only the ending, but the last word of the ending and possibly an opportunity for a sequel.

Maybe when we fear something we have created isn't good enough yet - maybe we are right. If I had sent my book out without all the work I have done on it from September to now it would not be half the book I am capable of writing.

Of course I can't edit forever and one day I will abandon it. As Paul Valery said, and I mentioned in the post of December 9th :

Art is never finished only abandoned.

I continue to work on the abandonment of my art.

The Art of Writing, SMART Blogging and Elephant Eating

The problems of writers can vary from finding the initial idea, format or media, to their realisation in form to the way they reach their audience. Writing like any art has so many variations that saying something is finished feels almost impossible.

'Art is never finished only abandoned.'

(Paul Valery, 1966)

There are many times I have felt like abandoning my novel and calling it 'finished'. How many drafts does it need? How will I know? When is it ready? When do I show it to people?

At a writing course I subjected my prologue and first 3 chapters to the scrutiny of the tutor and the nine other people on the course, who I had either only met twice before, once or not at all. The build up to it was horrendous. The actual reading and feedback was bearable. And the editing afterwards, based on the feedback, was surprisingly productive and enjoyable. However I did tend to ignore what I didn't agree with and anything which I'd already had suspicions about was reinforced and I made changes accordingly.

Continuing to Eat the Elephant

Referring back to the Eating the Elephant  and the One Thing Every Day posts I realised that although my commitment to submit to agents every day until successful was a good idea it was not one I was ready for. Or more importantly not one the book was ready for. After editing the first three chapters I realised that the rest of the book now needed the same treatment.

So how do I get there? What is my goal (aside from the ultimate one of having my book published and appearing on children's school reading lists)? So in the meantime, what is my interim goal and how will I know I have achieved it? 

We learn at school or at work about SMART goals or targets - could that system work here?

Specific

Measurable

Attainable & Agreed

Relevant & Realistic

Time bound

SMART makes sense and is a template used in various other motivational strategies. For instance Locke and Latham (1990) talk about 5 Principles of  Goal Setting and needing the have the following to motivate (the brackets show the relevance to SMART:

1. Clarity. (Specific, Measurable, Time bound)
2. Challenge.(Relevant & Realistic)
3. Commitment.(Agreed)
4. Feedback. (Measurable)
5. Task complexity. (Attainable)

Any success I have enjoyed in any area from formal education to writing practise have worked in this way without me knowing it.

SMART Blogging

Take for instance, even the act of blogging. When left to my own devices in the past I might have blogged intermittently on anything that took my fancy, whereas this blog 52 Quotes has taken a new turn from previous efforts with regular posts, researching in between and a focus for every week on a new area for development. I did not apply any of the goal setting strategies at the outset but now can see why I am achieving more than I have in previous efforts, when I apply the formula now.

I have been clear in what I am trying to achieve from 52 Quotes - learn from the learned. The time frame is 52 weeks, meaning at least 52 quotes and at least one blog post a week. It is relevant to my work as community worker and realistic in terms of scope and time management and skill base. It is a commitment I can make and have agreed with my peers to keep me motivated and challenged. I can measure success by by my learning (recorded here) and from feedback from peers. It is a project that is complex enough to engage and challenge me while also able to be broken down to attainable parts for an attainable overall end result.

Applying the Formula to My Writing

My  Goal: To complete the rewrite of the book and synopsis by the end of Christmas Holidays (Jan 6th) and start sending out submissions every day from the 7th to agents and seeking critique from them and others who I send the full book to for feedback.

In other words one elephant will be eaten by the 6th and I will start on another one on the 7th. That's how you eat the elephant - one bite at a time.

Locke, E. A. and Latham, G. P. (1990) A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance, Prentice Hall College Div
Valery, P. (1966) Quoted in Friends, p. 74, The Princeton University Library Chronicle: Volumes 28-29,  Princeton University