Time and Vision

It was almost 03:00 when I shot this, after having spent the night writing, plotting, outlining, and thinking. Someting struck me about tthe simplicity of the look and the statement of the elements – time and vision. 

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When it comes to any form of writing, time is essential. A lot of people shy away from blogging claiming that it is too time consuming. My argument is that if you consider the amount of time you waste scrolling through social media, you might as well invest it in writing. Blogging should be a supplementary action to your writing life, and not a burden or an additional chore. I am obviously passionate about it but I also discipline myself not to spend more than 20 minutes on an entry, unless it is something that requires more research or argumentation. Sometimes I just get carried away and end up spending over 20 minutes, which consequently means having to edit and chop down the wordiness.

When it comes to writing a book, rushing is the worst thing you can do as an author. Unless someone is holding a gun to your head, a work in progress is precisely that – in progress. It requires time, quality time, and something most authors struggle with on a daily basis – solitude. It is difficult to write stories or a new chapter when you have a family to take care of, household chores to attend to, and now the added dimension of home office. It’s nuts!

Vision is the next pillar essential for any writer. Like in construction, there are certain structural walls that cannot be messed with, and a creative vision is that sacrosanct structure that makes or breaks the story / manuscript. This applies to photography as well. I have often said that creative vision is what distinguishes a camera owner from a photographer. In the same manner, it is also what elevates an author to a writer. Anyone can become an author and publish whatever they jolly well please, but is is well written? Does it carry over the voice of the author and the soul of the characters?

Funny what can happen between 0200 – 03:00 – come to think of it, most of my first book was written after midnight, it was when I had absolute peace and quiet.