It’s Friday afternoon, after a spectacularly unsuccessful writing week, and I’m in a bit of a silly mood. Which is probably why this article on a Metallica fan at Ananova inspired me today.
The story goes that Metallica fan Mick Cassidy bet his wife that he wouldn’t shave his beard off until Metallica released a new album. His beard grew and grew (and his wife probably grew more and more irate – I know I would) and a long five years went on before Metallica finally released a new album. Cassidy shaved off his beard with relief, because even he said that “The beard made me look like a tomato with hair.”
Which got me wondering about a (very unlikely) situation: what if there was someone growing a beard out there until my first novel was published? Would it make me write any faster or better or in a more dedicated way? Would it make me search out publication opportunities with more zest?
A growing beard is, I guess, just one of the many ticking clocks that writers can imagine as a combination of pressure and inspiration to keep them writing. It’s an almost thankless task, really – how many other professions work away at something (for free) for years and years without any guarantee at all that anyone will ever publish it, let alone pay you very much for it. No builder would even lay a brick on a new house if they were only “hoping” that someone would pay for it. If only writing was a choice, rather than an internal drive I can’t ignore.
Well, that’s my Friday afternoon random ramble on writing inspiration this week. I’ve got a flood of how-to books to inspire me: on the train today I was re-reading Stephen King’s On Writing, which I must have read when it first came out and I’ve subsequently forgotten pretty much every part of it, so it’s proving very enjoyable and inspiring. More on that soon. In the meantime, it’s time to get the paid writing finished so the fun writing can begin.
PS: Don’t mention the beard-growing thing to my husband. I’d hate it if he took up that challenge.
[...] the weekend I pondered the fact that if somebody was growing a beard and not cutting it or shaving it off until I published my first novel, then perhaps I would feel [...]