Just for You
May 20, 2020

Time seems so fluid in these days of stay-at-home that a whole month slipped by
without me realizing it.

Judging from the entries in this blog, you'd think I was a humorless,
grind-it-out sort of writer. To some degree, I am. But at the same time, writing
is as much an art as a craft, so I try to push myself in new directions every
chance I get. When I was in grad school, I'd volunteer to write in some genre
I'd never tried before. (A Speech? Sure. Nature essay? Why not? Personal
profile? I'll give it a shot.) Some attempts were more successful than others,
but I learned even from my noble failures.

If you don't have someone or something (like grad school) forcing you to
experiment and push in new directions, one of the best ways to do it is to have
a side/hobby project, as Austin Kleon[2] describes in his book "Steal Like an Artist." 
Kleon says that side projects give you something to turn to when you get stuck 
or bored (something I've mentioned before[2], as well) and are often where you do your
best work, since it allows you to play and have fun. I agree, but would add that
you should also have an additional project that you work on just for yourself,
one that you don't intend to be made public.

Something like an entire novel without the letter "e" or written all in
second-person POV with an unreliable narrator. Or perhaps indulging your love of
fan-fic with a story so full of copyright violations that your grandkids'
lawyers (and your lawyer's grandkids) would still be in court if you published
it. Something completely Dada or Gothic dark or Pollyanna sunshine, if that's
what you want in your secret heart of hearts. Some work that's equivalent to
your diary in its privateness, yet isn't a diary or journal. Something that lets
you experiment and in which you can indulge your every writer's whim. One that
could be a complete and utter failure and you'd still never be embarrassed about
it, because it will never see the light of day.

Yes, I have a one of these writing projects. Been working on it for years. And
no, I won't tell you what it is. It's just for me.

[1] https://austinkleon.com
[2] https://www.andrewgudgel.com/blog/irons-in-the-fire.txt

(c) 2020 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com