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The 4 Day Challenge - Day ??? - Page 51

David Gane
David Gane
1 min read

So, what happened? How did the 4 Day Challenge disappear? It breaks down like this: Wednesday was an at home day for the family, Thursday became a crisis day for another commitment of mine, Friday was a recovery day from Thursday, as well as a family day, and the beginnings of a flu that would take out my Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Life happens. It is one of those things that occurs and even though I would love to be writing consistently, I don’t think it is possible to do at the time being.

Also, when a crisis appears, I find it hard to concentrate on the writing. I have heard that some people enjoy writing in emotional pain. This is something that I can not do. If it is too fresh, too recent, or too close, it blurs the writing and makes it messy. I quoted a Harvey Danger song a few days ago called, “Happiness Writes White” but I need happiness to write and balance to create.

Something else happened during this time. I wrote 6 pages on Friday over 2 hours but I knew the output was slowing to a halt. I was sticking at a very simple scene where the main character had to make a realization but it wasn’t working. While I lay sick in bed Saturday, I rolled the situation around in my head. The answer how to make it work came to me but also almost the rest of the story spilled out with it. The next day, the final pieces appeared to complete it. I wrote it down so that I wouldn’t forget it in my muddy state and now look forward to a time to complete the writing.

The writing did come to a halt after Tuesday but what was only an idea at the start of last Monday is now a half-written, half-outlined story waiting to be finished. Most importantly, I have learned that although writing like a madman is a useful exercise, so is the rest period in-between.

On Writing

David Gane Twitter

Co-writer of the Shepherd and Wolfe young adult mysteries, the internationally award-winning series, and teacher of storytelling and screenwriting.

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