An indispensable friend of mine sent me an article on what it takes to be published (here). The article Want to Be a Great Writer? Follow These Three Steps, by Harlan Coben is pretty much run of the mill stuff till you get to point three.
Point one, be inspired. Got that in spades. Seen my NaNo ideas?
Point two, go write. This one I don't always have. My writing time depends on my kiddos, their moods, and how much travel I have to do that month for work. More travel, more writing. Airports I've found are marvelous motivators.
Point three, panic. This is where I fail.
One of my favorite short story writers, Patrick McManus, wrote about how he did a "modified stationary panic" when a rabbit scared him in the brush. He described this state by contrasting it to the "full blown pin-ball panic" that occurred when a bear reared up in front of him. He claimed the "full blown pin-ball panic" only stopped when he rebounded off a tree across the next state line. Sadly, I don't have this particular quality.
I came close to panicking once in the military, but I stopped myself when I realized there were too many other things to do. In the military I was at different times a team leader, an EMT, an RTO then a squad leader. None of these things necessarily allow for panicky individuals. I never panic. I get mad a lot, have even been known to freeze up (which I can't imagine would help with my writing) but I never panic. Coben says panicking is key in that it creates, in short, a desire to finish. Mayhaps that's why I have so many unfinished novels on my shelf.
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