Bukowski Was Right: Don't Try

I considered writing yesterday, Sunday 15th September, and nothing was working—so I didn’t.

In case you are wondering what constitutes Paul Stewart not writing, I finished editing and published an ode to Donna Fox. So, it wasn't exactly an unproductive day.

What I mean is, I started writing a few different things, a few poems, a micro and then nothing really sang to me.

Then I remembered a quote by the late, great, Charles Bukowski -

"Don't try"

It sounds discouraging until you look at what he actually meant.

We are often encouraged to not give up, not give in and when it comes to writing, I often feel that the common advice is that you need to dig in and drag that great story or poem out kicking and screaming as it pulls on the membrane of your brain.

Sometimes, that works fine. Sometimes. Other times you end up forcing out something that is not your best work because it hasn't been given the percolation (okay, am I the only one that talks of ideas and stories percolating and fermenting in their brain?)

Now, as a rule of thumb I would say writing regularly is a good idea, even if you need to just write something to get the neurons moving, but I think Bukowski had a point.

You see, his philosophy as I understand it was not that we shouldn't "try" as in try new try to write, just that we shouldn't try to force it.

"You don’t try. That’s very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more." - Charles Bukowski

His view was that the best writing should happen without there being any push or aim for commercial success.

Which makes sense.

I normally do not have much hassle coming up with ideas or at least already have ideas in my WIP folder that I can work on, so that not writing every day is more or less not likely.

However. Today, after completing work on Foxed By Donna, I started looking at WIP's, including a follow-up to the micro The Gospel of Devastation, delving into the character of the Vastare.

I had a hundred or so words and thought I'd try and add to it with the view of publishing it and linking back to the first micro etc.

But, my head wasn't really in the game.

I had written the first two paragraphs before today and then added a little bit to the end

"As The Destruction at the hands of my invention comes to fruition, I reflect. On my throne—wrought from the bones of those who dared stand in opposition—I thought to the loftiness of our creators, the Caprificus. Even as their kin genuflect before me, with blood draining from the burr holes I gifted them.

I was one of their selected few, the Offspring of Anathema; hatred was the string to my bows of desolation. The Naufragiais, or the popular alternative, Vastare, was the name given to me as I rose to fear-inducing prominence among the ranks of my people.

I think back to the Atrocity and their pitiful stand against my kind. An opposition fraught with "

But kept getting stuck.

And that's when I came across the quote. Incidentally, I had been speaking to John Cox briefly about Bukowski, as I thought they had a lot in common. The words "American asshole" may have been used.

You'll need to see the comments section of Palimpsest of You (please read that story too while you're there, as it's one of my best!)

So I stopped. Some days, that’s the best advice you can follow—don’t force it.

It’s okay to stop, let it percolate, and return later. That’s not failure—it’s part of the process.

*

Thanks for reading!