Writing is Waiting

I read a quote from Flannery O'Connor today. She said, "There is a certain grain of stupidity the writer can hardly do without, and that is the quality of having to stare." She also said, "Writing is waiting."

One can take this to mean a number of different things. She could have meant that writers need to live an observant life, and there is a lot of truth in that. A writer who does not observe how real life works cannot effectively mimic it in writing.

She could also mean that a writer has to spend hours staring at a blank page/Word document/wall before something brilliant (or at least semi-brilliant) comes to her. This is the meaning that hits home with me today as I have spent the last several days staring blankly at whatever is in front of me hoping to get back to a place where I am sharing my mind with a character.

Today, seriously concerned about my lack of words-on-page, I went to a local coffee shop with only a blank notebook and pen. I was nervous. I could spend the afternoon at the coffee shop eavesdropping on other people's conversations and staring fruitlessly at the blank notebook. I could leave with my notebook just as blank as when I arrived. But I had to do it. Because if I brought my computer or a book, I would end up absorbed in things that were not productive for furthering my most recent project.

I did very little eavesdropping. I only heard the incessant sniffles of the man sitting behind me, and one can only ignore so many of those, especially when one begins to eavesdrop and learns the man is researching something on his health care provider's website. Anyone at all would want to bring him a tissue and a face mask, right?

Most of all, I wrote. I decided to pretend my blank notebook was my main character's diary, and changing the point of view really gave me a new perspective on my story. In fact, I think I may like it better. I may do the same thing tomorrow (minus the sniffling sick guy).