Take it to the limit, one more time!

As the old Eagles song goes, I'm having to "take it to the limit, one more time!"

It's funny that this line should mean so much to me today.  More later.  Only this past weekend did I just finish watching the first part of a documentary on that 70s supergroup.  That was a blast, reliving my teenage years.  I've just turned 53, btw.

So, what do I understand about taking things to one's limits?  In anything but literary terms, in can mean many things but, primarily, it means seeking out the boundaries to your capabilities.  Most recently, in 2011, I went to one of my limits, stopped and looked over the abyss, well, down one side of Mt. Kilimanjaro actually.  That limit was the height of 18,000 feet, just under 5,500 metres.  At that point I developed pulmonary oedema and, according to our doctor on the expedition, I was within an hour of dying.  Suffice it to say, going beyond that particular limit would have been a death sentence for me.  The plus side was I raised over £6,000 for diabetes research, so all was not lost.

Some limits, then, are not meant to be broken.

As for my writing, I find I keep looking at the horizon and finding new limits to walk towards.  Some of these have included working out the final plot line; welcoming my cast of characters onto the stage; setting goals for words completed etc.  All of these have necessary limits as, without setting them, my novel would just grow and grow and never be complete.  These are necessary disciplines that keep things on track.  What follows on from reaching them is the commitment to settle down and write.

Don't beat yourself up either by thinking that you have to be too disciplined with your writing schedule.  Writing every day can be intimidating, especially if you've got many life commitments as part of your daily existence.  The biggest practise I have had to learn, and most of the time I fail miserably, but I try nonetheless, is to keep a notebook with me at all times and to write snatches of the book in the midst of daily life.  It's also good for capturing things of the moment, passing things that fleet by.

Until I sat down with this novel, my writing had consisted of magazine articles and my undergraduate degree studies, both of which I could take my time in preparing.  Indeed, I used to say it took me half an hour to find my mojo, stir my juices, as it were, on the hob of creativity.  This meant that I could easily dismiss ten minute opportunities that passed by waiting at the doctor's or dentist's surgery, or drinking a quick cuppa while the rest of my family browsed the shopping mall.  Nowadays I have taught myself to focus for short snatches and move something along before the grass grows over my efforts from before.

And finally, why do I particularly have to take things to a limit "one more time?"  Well, after 6 years of planning and writing, on and off, I've lost my memory stick that contains my novel and the last backup that I did elsewhere was months ago!  This is a limit, a goal, I didn't expect to have to reset.  It's a good job that I'm on a week's holiday at home while workmen fit our new kitchen so I have plenty of time to rewrite those 25-30,000 words I had already put down.

Tips for the day:  take a notebook everywhere; practice writing for 2, 5 or 10 minutes at a time; back up your work to at least two hard drives at least weekly!

See you next time!

Bruce