The Physics Of Writing

I work for a bookseller - the best job ever for a bibliophile, especially one who's also a writer - and today I came across a book on motivation. Since I can't pick up a book without opening to a random page and reading at least one sentence, I found this one full of pictures - well, stick figure drawings- and brief but clear bits of information about what keeps us from doing what we want to or know we have to do.
     The page I opened to had drawings and words to depict the concept of inertia. It first used half the definition of inertia to explain why it's hard for us to get started moving, at all or in a certain direction. Simplified scientific statement: an object (body) at rest tends to remain at rest without a force to move it.
     This made me think of how hard it is to start a writing project. The book pointed out that sitting on the couch, wishing, hoping, desiring, dreaming about what you want or need will not help you get it. While thinking about your writing and putting the words together in your head is a good and often useful thing, it accomplishes nothing if you don't make yourself actually write (or type) the words.
     The other half of the simplified scientific statement is: a body in motion tends to stay in motion. This made me think how much easier it is to keep going with a WIP when you do it everyday or at least regularly. Even more, it reminded me of how hard it is to get back into working on a story or book when you've had some time away and lose momentum.
     To keep the physics analogy, words don't move themselves from your head to the page. They need a force - you - to put them there. So, like most things, inertia can be your friend or your enemy, depending on how you use it. My suggestion is to make it work for you, rather than against you.

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