ROW80 Check-in, Resistance and Creativity

I've been circling around ROW80's check-in all day. Thinking about what I could say, wondering if I'm making enough progress, dreading sitting down and reporting that I've not gotten much done since Sunday. Here is my shortened update, still pushing for more specificity:

1. Writing/research. I've done more reading of research than writing. Yes, there were icebergs, great floating floes several miles long, as the ships of the 19th Century turned north past Greenland to Hudson's Bay. The setting is not action, but a chunk of a chapter is tickling my imagination. Goal by Sunday: 750 words. Read 2 more chapters in A Community of Adventurers (Cowie).

2. Community. Finished a lovely cop procedural by Frank Zafiro, Under a Raging Moon. Bailed on my F2F writing group tonight because I've been exposed to H1N1 (and have a rare headache). Goal by Sunday: Post review of Zafiro's book. Write a crit for Novels-L.

3. Marketing. Most of my marketing this week has been to simply check the numbers following my BookBub promotion. Goal by Sunday: Drag out my Marketing Plan and REVISE.

A note about writing. At times we writers find it more difficult to get those words on paper. Earlier today, I wrote on my writing blog ("Conflict: Gotta Love It") about a very helpful set of prompts from Chuck Sambuchino that can add a more intense level of conflict, and I'm excited to try these . . . starting tomorrow morning.

But why it is so difficult to sit down and write? I can't find the quote from a famous woman writer who said we must write about what we fear the most. Definitely, I resist.

Do we fear our own failure of imagination, or substance, or value? Do we fear success? The brain has a way of distracting us from challenging tasks. 

My search on the internet for that missing quote brought these two gems for reflection. 

Steven Pressfield, in The War of Art, said: "Resistance is fear. But resistance is too cunning to show itself naked in this form. Why? Because if Resistance lets us see clearly that our own fear is preventing us from doing our work, we may feel shame at this. And shame may drive us to act in the face of fear.

I fell in love with this quote from Leonard Cohen:

“Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in.” 

"River" by Sandy Brown Jensen

Sandy Brown Jensen, friend and digital storyteller, just posted this video poem on Flickr (see link below). 

I can't think of a better way to prepare for the rest of the week -- and more --  than to ponder her beautiful words and pictures.

The video starts with a black screen . . . but just click!

Sandy Brown Jensen: "What the World Is Trying To Be"

And why not check in on what other ROW80 writers are working on this week HERE.


Notes:

Steven Pressfield's quote comes from Carolyn Rubenstein's article, "23 Quotes to Help You Overcome the Fear of Writing."

Leonard Cohen's quote is one of several at "Quotes About Writing, Fear, and Creativity."