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January 29, 2007
The Five Stages of Writing a Book, or Thank You, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
1. Denial
“Writing a book is no big deal. It won’t take a lot of time out of my life. Really.”
2. Anger
“WHY CAN’T I GET ANYTHING DONE EVER??? WHY DID MY COMPUTER DIE??? WHY CAN’T I FIND MY NOTES??? I HATE EVERYTHING!!!”
3. Bargaining
“If chapter three writes itself while I’m sleeping, I promise I’ll start being someone people would describe as ‘patient,’ ‘sweet,’ and ‘kind.’”
4. Depression
“I am never going to finish this book.”
5. Acceptance
“All right. Short assignments. Back to work.”
It’s worth noting that writers don’t necessarily advance through these stages in the same way. Some go through the stages in order, some tarry longer in some stages than others, and some go back and forth between stages several times. Writing is a very personal business, and no two people experience writing in quite the same way.
Posted by adrienne at January 29, 2007 07:19 PM
Comments
I think that sums up Sunday morning.
Posted by: tonderdo at January 29, 2007 07:51 PM
From THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by Tara Altebrandon:
"These are the real five stages of grief: agitation, intoxication, experimentation, resignation, and reinvigoration."
Posted by: Little Willow at January 29, 2007 11:18 PM
You forgot the PROCRASTINATION PHASE, which includes all sorts of creative wastes of time, distractions and the general occupying of one's time with such seemingly useful Red Herrings as taking out the garbage, organizing one's notes and brushing the cat.
Posted by: Heidi at January 30, 2007 04:19 AM
Now I must absolutely read that book, because that sounds *way* more like the way I experienced grief. Aha! And it's checked it at WPL. I'll grab it this morning....
I think "Procrastination" could be considered part of "Bargaining," although, goodness knows, I spend enough time on it for it to be its own phase. :)
Posted by: adrienne at January 30, 2007 07:06 AM
What's really sad is that I've been "writing" a book for years now & I haven't even managed to get to any of those stages yet. I have every intention of doing so, after I can talk myself into getting my fingers on the keyboard on a regular basis... : )
Posted by: JJ at January 30, 2007 12:08 PM
I prefer to organize my cats and brush my notes. Tee hee...
Posted by: Liz Garton Scanlon at January 30, 2007 12:54 PM
You must read the book. It's fantastic.
Posted by: Little Willow at January 30, 2007 08:41 PM
Oh, no, JJ. I think that's totally denial. :)
My cats are very good at helping me procrastinate by sitting on my notes/keyboard/book.
Posted by: adrienne at January 31, 2007 09:43 PM