Sunday, October 18, 2009

Haunted


I find myself being haunted by my writing.  Try as I might to put it down at times, it forever beckons me. Meriam-Webster defines haunting not only "to visit or inhabit as a ghost and to have a disquieting or harmful effect on", but "to visit often, to continually seek the company of, to recur constantly and spontaneously".

Just when I was trying to cut back and readjust some of my activities, some new projects came in -  non-writing related.  I'm busy with some website work which is a good earning opportunity and I'm thankful for it.  Although my writing had to be temporarily cutback, it is not cut off.  That would be impossible. Those stories are forever floating around in my head and you just never know when some little tid bit will come to mind.  I make sure I jot these down for later insertion.  Paper and pen are with me everywhere I go. 

Sometimes I'm at the store, other times driving, or trying to get to sleep. I can't remember when it happened, but this week I named a character.  It just came to me out of the blue and it was so profound for me.  I had struggled over the name months ago and then there it was.  And there is more to the name than the name itself.  The name truly defines the character.  Saint.  Actually, it's his last name.  Saint is the prefix to his surname and folks have taken to calling him "Saint" for short.  He is conflicted over this, insisting that he aint no saint, yet strives to live up to the calling. He is full of contradictions. I got so excited that I wanted to return to the story right away, but alas, no time.

I remain haunted.


Are you haunted by your writing?  Tell me.

5 comments:

  1. Carla, Where have I been? Your blog is wonderful:) I sensed that you've been writing a long time like me, even before you left your thoughtful comments on my blog. Coming over here confirms it.
    You've written something in this post I've never seen addressed before - being haunted by your writing.
    I've so often felt that way, ever since childhood. During those long years when I was working other jobs and raising my family and finding little time to write, I was so haunted by my writing I wanted the Lord to take the desire to write away. I often wished I'd been given some other desire/gift. So I continue to be haunted, even now, and I've reconciled myself to the fact, barring losing my mind, I'll always be that way:) My life just isn't complete without words. Or as Stephen King said, he's never quite comfortable when he's not writing.
    BTW, Saint is a great name - very evocative! Thanks so much for a great post.

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  2. Carla, your blog is awesome!!! Thanks so much for leaving a comment on mine, so I could find yours!!! What a treat!

    An author haunted? Is there any other way for us. If it's not a character, it's a plot twist, or setting niggling away at me. yes, I'm definitely haunted too.

    Love the Saint name. You can get a lot of conflict miliage out of that for sure!

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  3. My writing feels like another sister to me. She drives me crazy sometimes, but other times we have so much fun. She talks too much, and I have to tell her give me a break once in a while!

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  4. I'm sometimes haunted by my feeling to write something, kind of like an urgency. In those cases I get up at the crack of dawn and write until I've purged all that's on my mind.

    However I'm never haunted by my writing after the purge. I'll go back to look for missed typos but other than that, once it's out of me it's out.

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  5. Thanks for visiting and all the nice compliments! I hope to see you all back soon. I see we are all mutually and inherently haunted by our writing!
    Faith Imagined, your writing "feels like a sister to me" - would that be a twin? I like the analogy. Strokeofliving - yes, purging is good. Eileen, it's always something nagging, isn't it. There's always a new idea, something. It just never seems to end. Laura just blogged about that. And speaking of Laura, tried to put it down, too. Didn't work!

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