Well...here I am

So where am I now? Well, now I'm in chapter 3. I wrote a bit today (and yesterday) about...well, about the things that happen in chapter 3. I suppose I shouldn't bother talking too much about the plot. I suppose I should talk about the writing itself.

The writing lately has been going well. Which is something of a new experience. Or, if not a new experience, an experience that has a flavor I'd forgotten. This isn't to say that it was easy today. It's never really easy (unless you're the kind of crazy person who writes novels in a weekend) - especially when you start off with a full day of work beforehand. But what it was was enjoyable.

There are days when the writing makes me hate. There are days when writing is the worst thing in the world. Unfortunately, there tend to be a lot of these days, and I'd been living in a string of these days for quite some time until recently. But recently, something changed.

I mentioned this book the other day, and I mentioned it because it did a lot to alter my mood. The experience of reading the book inspired me to delve deeper into the experience of writing. I'd like to tell you why, but I'd rather that you read the book. But I'll tell you why anyway. Why is because I like to feel important. And if there is any lesson imparted by that book it's that stories are important, perhaps to the utmost. Sometimes there's nothing quite so invigorating as a sense of purpose.

But there's another reason as well, and it has to do with something that used to frighten the writerly side of me: parallels. As I was reading the many examples of myths and legends in the book, I kept noticing parallels with what I'm trying and hoping to do with my story. Like I said, this used to scare me. The goal I used to strive for with my writing was one of novelty, freshness - I wanted to be something that no one else ever was and write things that no other writer had. When I saw parallels to the work I was doing, I grew frustrated at both my lack of novelty and the fact that someone else did it first.

Those desires and fears have...changed. They're still there, to be sure, but they're also coupled to the desire to express some kind of human truth (<-- this is the kind of thing that, when you say it, most people will roll their eyes at you - feel free to roll away, but it's true). And where I saw a lack of originality in the parallels I saw in the past, I now see a sign that I'm on the right track. Because if something's worth saying twice, then it's probably worth listening to.

Also, plagiarism's fun.