To be intrepid (adjective) is to be characterized by resolute fearlessness; adventurous.
I'd like to think I'm an intrepid writer. This year I've been in a sort of quest to try new things and to push my writing in new directions. Not just where my novel is concerned, but in the everyday slog of the writing life. Recently, I decided that I needed to get up early in order to tackle the novel before work. As much as I hated, loathed, recoiled at the thought of getting up even a minute sooner than routine, it was actually a good thing. I try to get up early now, and I am actually awake (if not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed) and refreshed and ready for the day. It took a little intrepidation to do so. And today, struggling to get out of bed when the alarm told me to so that I might blog was an intrepid battle.
Sometimes we rail against the smallest things in life, but sometimes these little things are worth sacrificing in the greater adventure of our writing... stepping outside the box or the comfort zone or whatever you've been conditioned to call it. We writers are curious creatures; walls cannot contain us. I don't mean we should forgo the bonds of grammar and syntax and common sense, but use those "walls" as the starting point, the barest bones of our writing, and seek to find it viscera and blood and skin and clothes in new places. Does this make sense? We must go boldly into the Unknown, take risks, do what is uncomfortable or downright scary because the Story is worth it. So... this Autumn I strive to be intrepid, sending my novel (my brainchild) into the deep, black hole that is the world of literary agents and publishing, trying again for a graduate program, and venturing into the world of online community. I am off to see the world, pen in hand!
One last thought: Daedalus making wings for his son Icarus to use to fly. That's a bold move. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but he gave him the wings anyway. The wax in the wings melted, and Icarus fell. Is it Daedalus' fault? Or is it the painful price we must pay sometimes for taking a necessary risk? In our quest we may lose a novel or a story, our brainchildren, but we've gone forward, paving the way for what comes next over the horizon. There will always be something to inspire. Sometimes we must meet it halfway, or else wrest it with all our strength out of its hiding place. As Michelle would say, Corraggio!
Great word. One MUST be intrepid to be a writer. I've written four novels now - three will undoubtedly never be published. Yet I learned through each one.
ReplyDeleteI admire you for getting up early. I do my best work at night, so getting up early in the morning wouldn't work for me. I would fight it every step of the way. LOL. But there have been far too many nights when I went to bed past my bedtime because I was madly typing away. The blurry-eyed mornings required a bit more caffeine, but it was worth it.