My Everest

Let's get back to basics. Following Wifey's lead, I originally set up this blog not to engage in the kind of teenage navel gazing that usually characterises the new-fangled web2.0 world (certainly if you read the slightly snootier IT press)... The intention was to write. The question I ended up with was what to write about and how to do it? Hence the inadvertent navel-gazing. And the inadvertent navel-gazing-gazing.

But enough about my navel.

My intention/hope/Everest (delete as applicable, but only if you spot the Scrubs reference) is novel writing - this I've already alluded to. I've also discussed how my usual bout of inspiration strikes sometime between 10pm and midnight, at which point I'm typically trying to stop thinking about really anything and sleep.

There's then the problem of actually sitting down and, you know, writing. I'm not big on will-power and context is a pretty big thing for me - if I get the laptop out on the train my mind turns to work, even if I don't have any work to do. Sitting at the computer at home my mind turns to playing a game, even if I don't have anything to play. To try deal with this Wifey's suggested a writing evening (that would be tonight). A routine is an excellent idea (although Wifey should be doing it too - bringing work home doesn't count and violates my working 9-to-5 rule!).

During the summers he spent in Switzerland, Nietzsche would apparently rise early, write from 7am-midday and then spend the afternoons hiking near St Moritz. The recently deceased JG Ballard (who's short stories I enjoyed quite a lot, even if they did present a rather stark contrast to the honeymoon we were on when I was reading them) was a big drinker and writer, a method I'd love to emulate, though I suspect that Wifey, my liver (and my GP - who recently quizzed us on our drinking habits) and my bank manager would all object.

Where does this leave me? Routine is good, so I'll plough on with writing evenings and we'll have to see what comes of them. To return to Nietzsche (yes I read a book, stop looking surprised) - he suggested that it would take 10 years of effort, writing down thoughts and observations on nature and human behaviour before 'what is produced will be ready to go out into the world'. Not sure I have that kind of patience, but every journey begins with a single step.

But should every writing career begin with a single clichéd Confucius quote? Discuss.