The dentist did not send us a
reminder of our half yearly visit this year and I have used it as an excuse to
avoid the visit. Even though I
know in the back of my mind that I should call for an appointment, I use the
dentist’s failure to send out a reminder as an excuse to avoid doing what I
know I must eventually do.
reminder of our half yearly visit this year and I have used it as an excuse to
avoid the visit. Even though I
know in the back of my mind that I should call for an appointment, I use the
dentist’s failure to send out a reminder as an excuse to avoid doing what I
know I must eventually do.
I’ve
signed up for the Keiser weight training though, that’s a tick in the box of
the doing-things-good-for-you category, but for the dentist and the rest I
can’t claim much success. The rest
being all those other jobs I put off until I must get them done, the washing,
report writing, cleaning out cupboards, but I will get there.
signed up for the Keiser weight training though, that’s a tick in the box of
the doing-things-good-for-you category, but for the dentist and the rest I
can’t claim much success. The rest
being all those other jobs I put off until I must get them done, the washing,
report writing, cleaning out cupboards, but I will get there.
Procrastination I call it, the
demon of progress. My greatest
avoidance is to immerse myself in the book I tell myself I am writing. Actually it’s written, mostly, only I
must put it together, make the pieces into a whole, and eliminate that which is
unnecessary.
demon of progress. My greatest
avoidance is to immerse myself in the book I tell myself I am writing. Actually it’s written, mostly, only I
must put it together, make the pieces into a whole, and eliminate that which is
unnecessary.
I joined a class recently, six
sessions, to help us produce a manuscript, and Lee Kofman who takes this class gave me the task of working on my structure, at least four hours a
week. Lee knows how much I hate
structure.
sessions, to help us produce a manuscript, and Lee Kofman who takes this class gave me the task of working on my structure, at least four hours a
week. Lee knows how much I hate
structure.
Even the word sends shivers through
me. I gather that structure is
like a skeleton on which the flesh of the story hangs, but then I think of what
Julian Barnes has Flaubert say to us in his novel, Flaubert’s Parrot:
me. I gather that structure is
like a skeleton on which the flesh of the story hangs, but then I think of what
Julian Barnes has Flaubert say to us in his novel, Flaubert’s Parrot:
Books aren’t
made in the way that babies are made: they are made like pyramids. There’s some long pondered plan, and
then great blocks of stone are placed one on top of the other, and it’s
back-breaking, sweaty time-consuming work. And all to no purpose!
It just stands like that in the desert! But it towers over it prodigiously. Jackals piss at the base of it and
bourgeois clamber to the top of it, etc.
made in the way that babies are made: they are made like pyramids. There’s some long pondered plan, and
then great blocks of stone are placed one on top of the other, and it’s
back-breaking, sweaty time-consuming work. And all to no purpose!
It just stands like that in the desert! But it towers over it prodigiously. Jackals piss at the base of it and
bourgeois clamber to the top of it, etc.
I lack structure, I entirely lack
structure through out my life. The
obvious example to me comes in my approach to housework. I might start to tidy up the kitchen sink,
put dishes in the dishwasher, wipe nearby benches, but as I stand stacking and
wiping a thought will come into my mind about what needs doing elsewhere or an
object will appear in my line of vision that needs to be put somewhere else and I
will traipse up through the hallway to the bedroom or bathroom or wherever and
while in this new room I will see something else that needs attention, the
bathroom cupboard calls for re-arranging for instance, and I will work on
this. Pathetic really.
structure through out my life. The
obvious example to me comes in my approach to housework. I might start to tidy up the kitchen sink,
put dishes in the dishwasher, wipe nearby benches, but as I stand stacking and
wiping a thought will come into my mind about what needs doing elsewhere or an
object will appear in my line of vision that needs to be put somewhere else and I
will traipse up through the hallway to the bedroom or bathroom or wherever and
while in this new room I will see something else that needs attention, the
bathroom cupboard calls for re-arranging for instance, and I will work on
this. Pathetic really.
I hold my experience of my father
responsible. My father may have
been a man of structure but he passed none of it down to me.
responsible. My father may have
been a man of structure but he passed none of it down to me.
The man of structure even as underneath the neatness he was beginning to fall apart.
When my daughters complain about
writing an essay, their father will insist they come up with a plan first of
all. Then he will urge them to
work on a beginning, a middle and an end.
Say what you are going to say, say it and then say what you’ve
said. Simple. Hey presto – a
typical academic essay.
writing an essay, their father will insist they come up with a plan first of
all. Then he will urge them to
work on a beginning, a middle and an end.
Say what you are going to say, say it and then say what you’ve
said. Simple. Hey presto – a
typical academic essay.
To me it’s boring, but if I had
learned this, whether from my father or from the nuns at school, I might not be
in trouble with this book as I am today.
learned this, whether from my father or from the nuns at school, I might not be
in trouble with this book as I am today.
I do not plan anything in this way,
not anything written. No, I simply
plunge in where the fancy takes me and I wind up with many possible beginnings,
several chunky middles and an occasional ending, but they do not necessarily
fit well together. I
cannot get the form. As Julian Barnes writes:
not anything written. No, I simply
plunge in where the fancy takes me and I wind up with many possible beginnings,
several chunky middles and an occasional ending, but they do not necessarily
fit well together. I
cannot get the form. As Julian Barnes writes:
Form isn’t an
overcoat flung over the flesh of thought (that old comparison, old in
Flaubert’s day); it’s the flesh of thought itself. You can no more imagine an Idea without a Form than a Form
without an Idea. Everything in Art
depends on execution: the story of a louse can be as beautiful as the story of
Alexander. You must write
according to your feelings, be sure those feelings are true, and let everything
else go hang, when a line is good, it ceases to belong to any school. A line of prose must be as immutable as
a line of poetry.
overcoat flung over the flesh of thought (that old comparison, old in
Flaubert’s day); it’s the flesh of thought itself. You can no more imagine an Idea without a Form than a Form
without an Idea. Everything in Art
depends on execution: the story of a louse can be as beautiful as the story of
Alexander. You must write
according to your feelings, be sure those feelings are true, and let everything
else go hang, when a line is good, it ceases to belong to any school. A line of prose must be as immutable as
a line of poetry.
Blogging is the perfect medium for
me because it can be more chaotic than a novel. My only structure is the weekly post. The rest I leave up to chance. And chance is a fickle creature,
sometimes she offers wondrous gifts and at other times, a load of crap.
me because it can be more chaotic than a novel. My only structure is the weekly post. The rest I leave up to chance. And chance is a fickle creature,
sometimes she offers wondrous gifts and at other times, a load of crap.