tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post4533276903189722908..comments2024-03-15T09:26:02.796-05:00Comments on PROJECT MAYHEM: On Despair and the Writing Process, by Anne NesbetProject Mayhemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154342399869089664noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-76025552411389625202016-03-14T23:46:52.411-05:002016-03-14T23:46:52.411-05:00I hope you will find a community to lift you up wh...I hope you will find a community to lift you up when things get tough--and of course I also hope things get less tough! Wishing you all the best as your writing gets itself rolling again.Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-50334611381907993682016-03-13T16:42:00.376-05:002016-03-13T16:42:00.376-05:00Thank you so so much for this post. I have been ba...Thank you so so much for this post. I have been battling despair for the last few months. I have also been isolated from other writers for the last few months. Definitely a connection. This weekend I reconnected and got reinvigorated. I found that old hope again. And then I found your wise words. Amy Gerstin Coombshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928474003182821912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-88984804719901033722016-03-09T18:57:40.249-06:002016-03-09T18:57:40.249-06:00Reading through a NaNoWriMo draft takes a great de...Reading through a NaNoWriMo draft takes a great deal of courage--I know this from experience. All power to you!<br />And sometimes it's almost better not to FIGHT despair but to smile at it and wave: "Hey, I see you sneaking in there! Can't let you move in right now, so keep moving on...." Small goals help. Even teeny-tiny goals, if necessary. Good luck, good luck!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-24565916682832399482016-03-09T18:50:12.495-06:002016-03-09T18:50:12.495-06:00Oh, sequels are famous for causing despair! Wishin...Oh, sequels are famous for causing despair! Wishing you SO much luck as you build this mighty fortress pebble by pebble!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-2474853402068057642016-03-09T17:21:55.758-06:002016-03-09T17:21:55.758-06:00Thank you for this. Last night, I finished a read ...Thank you for this. Last night, I finished a read through of my first novel since I finished it for NaNoWriMo 2015. Mostly negative thoughts, like the ones you addressed, have been running through my head about my first stab at MG. Your words encourage me to fight through the despair and focus on small goals! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12058653122465798731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-51043683030912542232016-03-09T08:28:43.042-06:002016-03-09T08:28:43.042-06:00You just hit this on the head for me, Anne. The de...You just hit this on the head for me, Anne. The despair. Sounds so strange, especially when a person's already written a full manuscript or/and has books out there. But it's sooooo true. I am actually drowning in it, right now. I've never written a sequel, let alone a series. But that's what I'm doing - writing my first book II - and it's gotten under my skin. I question and doubt everything I'm writing and developing. Your advice about taking it one chapter at a time is good. I'm going to try that. Thx! S.A. Larsenッhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241633272588383935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-18734108220510170272016-03-08T20:10:38.915-06:002016-03-08T20:10:38.915-06:00Thank you for visiting Mayhemland!Thank you for visiting Mayhemland!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-27652691260691854162016-03-08T20:09:20.223-06:002016-03-08T20:09:20.223-06:00Emma, I wish you strength and a flowing pen and a ...Emma, I wish you strength and a flowing pen and a shrinking To Do list! You can do this thing!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-57436862234087069282016-03-08T20:07:25.956-06:002016-03-08T20:07:25.956-06:00(Ah, wouldn't it be lovely if wisdom were less...(Ah, wouldn't it be lovely if wisdom were less ephemeral? Let's see how I do when the next revision letter arrives!)Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-75087722144787688532016-03-08T20:04:36.294-06:002016-03-08T20:04:36.294-06:00Well, I have a long history of struggling with tho...Well, I have a long history of struggling with those Wrong Frames of Reference, of course: I remember sobbing bitterly when I learned (at about age 6?) that the earth was doomed! I was devastated! I still remember quite vividly the room I was in (at a friend's house) when I heard the bad news.... Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-38216816458845810092016-03-08T15:36:55.833-06:002016-03-08T15:36:55.833-06:00Loved this post.Loved this post.Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05221013275812699960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-60575126938639194062016-03-08T13:49:41.631-06:002016-03-08T13:49:41.631-06:00Thank you for this. You have helped “heal” my &quo...Thank you for this. You have helped “heal” my "wounded frame of reference". As usual you manage to translate your insightfulness into messages accessible to even the most lost amongst us. I now return to the battle of life with pen & To Do list ready!Emma PGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-53371849314838838122016-03-08T08:08:03.357-06:002016-03-08T08:08:03.357-06:00So wise and so true. Thank you.So wise and so true. Thank you.Susan Meyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157266999379553762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-49583881798243581492016-03-08T06:55:36.562-06:002016-03-08T06:55:36.562-06:00"Despair simply thrives on Wrong Frames of Re..."Despair simply thrives on Wrong Frames of Reference."<br /><br />Brilliant. AS is the rest of the piece. Thank you, Ann. Hey, Jim Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01186967953208326943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-8460485377896863682016-03-08T00:36:14.973-06:002016-03-08T00:36:14.973-06:00So true! Keeping going is the not-so-secret secret...So true! Keeping going is the not-so-secret secret. But sometimes it's very hard....Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-71386088749712798242016-03-07T20:35:46.594-06:002016-03-07T20:35:46.594-06:00You just have to keep writing at the end of the da...You just have to keep writing at the end of the day.Sheena-kay Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17712661419116636671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-63351589380074567162016-03-07T11:07:33.134-06:002016-03-07T11:07:33.134-06:00The scariest thing about despair is how reasonable...The scariest thing about despair is how reasonable and rational it sounds when it's talking. If it showed us that forked tongue, we'd be quicker to recognize it as an impostor! Wishing you a productive and relatively despair-free week!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-16908725904372415062016-03-07T10:05:35.662-06:002016-03-07T10:05:35.662-06:00I think you'll have a lot of writers sagely no...I think you'll have a lot of writers sagely nodding their heads this morning reading this. Thanks for writing so eloquently about the despairing part of the process that so often rears on its hind legs, sticking out its forked tongue.Michael G-Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07947421844294471304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-26200298279165933272016-03-07T10:02:41.335-06:002016-03-07T10:02:41.335-06:00I hope your work goes well today; I hope the next ...I hope your work goes well today; I hope the next few sentences sing! Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-1126773967654689182016-03-07T10:00:07.676-06:002016-03-07T10:00:07.676-06:00That's the heart of the matter for me: learnin...That's the heart of the matter for me: learning to live with the "nothing will come of this" thoughts, and still moving forward, still doing what I can to make each moment/each page meaningful. The tightrope walker keeps her focus on the rope and on her next step--not on all the emptiness all around! Wishing you the very best, Kell! Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-33991773715993861942016-03-07T09:55:29.345-06:002016-03-07T09:55:29.345-06:00Luckily for all of us, you manage to write some be...Luckily for all of us, you manage to write some beautiful books despite the despair! I hope the next time Despair visits, you are able to send him along on his way with a little less agony.... Good luck, Caroline!Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-42385378506826198952016-03-07T09:50:56.727-06:002016-03-07T09:50:56.727-06:00Dianne, it's amazing to me how this Despair ch...Dianne, it's amazing to me how this Despair character can seem so uniquely convincing and powerful--while using exactly the same old clichés on all of us. <br />I really do tell my students to add Despair (About Writing) to their writing to-do lists. And it does help me to have done so, even though of course I'm still worried each time that, as you put it, "this time, he means it!" Good luck to you! And maybe you can really triumph and get Despair to clean out the litter box for you, before he slumps away out of your life....Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-22351620340419514212016-03-07T09:44:54.438-06:002016-03-07T09:44:54.438-06:00Oh, yes: walking is so important and so helpful! W...Oh, yes: walking is so important and so helpful! Walking in the world outside--where the trees and flowers and squirrels and kids on tricycles are--somehow tricks even us despairing worriers into living in the moment (for a moment). It heals our wounded frames of reference.<br />I wish you ALL GOOD LUCK with your current project and the waiting YA! Anne Nesbethttp://www.annenesbet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-32844091097655455312016-03-07T09:36:37.149-06:002016-03-07T09:36:37.149-06:00I happened to be in a bout of this very despair wh...I happened to be in a bout of this very despair when, as a way to avoid facing my manuscript, I read your post. Thank you, Anne. I have to get back to work now.Christopher Healyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16381044310890181199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173408054965817352.post-24066054580958151942016-03-07T08:36:48.588-06:002016-03-07T08:36:48.588-06:00I especially like the way you frame, "Nothing...I especially like the way you frame, "Nothing will come of this." In a way, this is the blackest part of the pep talk -- what does anything mean at all? But that's why it's most true. Thanks for this. Kell Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18089691866850131698noreply@blogger.com