Life, death, and writing (again)

by | Sep 15, 2014 | creativity, writing | 2 comments

I’m going to talk to you about your book again today.

How are you going?

Is your book getting written?

Progress being made, day by day?

Word count going up, steadily?

It’s not, is it?

Things get in the way, and writing’s not that easy. I know. I write too. Or not, because let’s face it, most of us don’t.

There’s always something more important to do, or even something that’s not important but rather, a little procrastinatory that needs doing.

What I need to tell you now isn’t easy, and it’s not very nice either. But I’m just going to go ahead and say it anyway.

Ready? It’s this:

Write.Your.Book. NOW(1)

 

Why?

Because you will die.

One day – hopefully not soon – you will leave this life.

And what do you want to leave behind?

A draft?

Some disjointed files that are locked away in a password-protected file on your hard drive?

Some crappy scrawls that those you’ve left behind will puzzle over?

In case you’d not inferred, death has visited those close to me again. Apart from getting sad, having someone I know die always makes me feel like I need to run around, clanging a bell and waking all of us sleepwalkers up.

I need to get in the faces of everyone around me, all the creative, awesome, procrastinating people who are just waiting for some mythical ‘right’ time to do their thing, and I need to shout:

What are you thinking?!

Why are you waiting?!

Do you not realise that you’re only given so many trips around this sun?!

There will never be a right time!

Do.It.Now!!

 

(And I mean every one of those exclamation marks, too. So there.)

 

That urgency? If you can get to a point where you feel it, where you know in your bones that the sand is trickling through your own personal hourglass, that your breaths are numbered as the yogis believe?

Then for the love of all that is holy:

USE IT.

Write like the hounds of the angel of death are after you.

Write the truth from the depths of your soul.

Even if it’s weird and doesn’t come out right.

Even if it feels like it’ll break you on the way out.

Even if it feels trite, or like it’s been said before.

None of that matters in the end.

 

The only thing that matters is that you do it.

Because if you don’t, it might be too late.

What would you write, if you remembered your mortality? Come over to FB and let me know: click here.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. morgancnicholswriter

    Great post! I found you on ABLA. I did this thing recently called ‘Death Clock’ online, where your death date is estimated and you get this ‘countdown’ to your death ticker thing going – so you literally see the seconds diminishing. Since then, and also with some family members/friends passing on, I’ve been a lot more cognisant of my mortality on an everyday basis, and have got a kick in the butt. The third draft of my book is now off for feedback! And I am learning to play the ukulele too 🙂

    • tamara

      Oh my goodness – I am going to find that clock right now!
      That sounds like just the kick in the pants I am talking about. Good to hear your story about getting it going. Seems to have been very effective! X tamara

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