Writing

I like to think of myself as a writer. I may be kidding myself on, given that doing one column a week (usually) on a gaming website - however popular that site is - does not necessarily constitute 'writing'. For almost as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed writing. I've always had a fertile, active imagination and I've always tried to scribble down ideas and thoughts as they come to me.

As I've got older, this process has stalled a little. I've had ideas for a novel or two and more than a handful of short stories floating around my head for years now, but I haven't done any more with them than some half-hearted outlines and maybe the odd scene or two. I'm not sure if it's a lack of motivation, or procrastination or just plain old laziness, but I can hardly seem to get started on most of it, let alone get them finished.

My girlfriend called me earlier to say she'd been talking with one of our neighbours. Her sister disappeared around 10 years ago - her body was never found and no-one was ever charged with her murder. Then, a few months back, a guy called Peter Tobin was charged with the murder of another girl and during the investigations, her sister's remains were discovered buried in the garden of a house Tobin used to live in. Anyway - Morag (my girlfriend) was speaking with our neighbour, who mentioned that she's written a book about the whole thing, which is due to be published in the next couple of months.

I suppose I'm a little envious or jealous. If I want to be a 'writer', then I need to get my finger out and start writing. Part of me doesn’t want to write because I'm rarely happy with what I've written when I'm done. Another part of me slaps myself in the head and points out that 90% of writing is re-writing, and that I should just get stuff down on paper, and take it from there.

I've been playing WoW a little too much lately and I've neglected my painting, so I've stopped playing altogether for a bit until I clear my painting backlog. Maybe I'll focus on writing once I'm finished with painting. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating again.