Together Again

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation and because of something that was said or just because your mind drifted for a moment, you remember it’s time to pay your quarterly taxes? Also, where did you put those tax receipts? You didn’t recycle them accidentally, did you? No, you wouldn’t do that – except you did throw away those notes to a story once because you were so annoyed with the clutter on your desk that they got scooped up in the frenzied attempt to bring order to your life. Order is good, but so is inspiration. Are they in conflict?

At which point your wife asks, “Are you listening?”

No, you are not. It’s hard to be in two places at once. I’ve tried many times. Most writers have, I think. After all, the imagination, that boundless, fertile inner world, is one of our happy places, a ready refuge from boredom and uncertainty. We’ve learned to both enjoy and harvest its fruits. How tempting to step through that open door when the outer world seems unfriendly or flat. Do so, however, and you’re often neither here nor there – for the conversation continues, or there’s another slide in the meeting’s power point, or the kids are still complaining.

Strange then that sometimes when we sit down to write, when we’ve set time aside to deliberately enter that garden, the door seems locked or for some mysterious reason missing entirely. There are several reasons for this, but trying to be in two places at once is often one of them. To write, I must let go of and forget about the world outside my office door. It’s still there, still interesting and irritating, still requiring my care, but not at that moment. I’m at the desk to give my story my full attention and nothing less.

I’ve learned to be judicious with my attention. There are a lot of stories and arguments and fears that leave me drained when I watch or listen to them. Yet I never feel so good as when I give something friendly my complete attention. Now I’m not split, I’m in one place doing one thing, whole and complete, as if I’ve been put together again and can remember who I am.

Check out Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com