Recovering excitement for ideas
It's fun how sometimes I get very good ideas for things to write. Not so much that the ideas themselves are good (all ideas are the same as far as I'm concerned) it's more that I'm excited about that particular thing, itching to write it down, thinking how much fun I'll have doing so and how it might even be helpful or interesting to someone.
There is an idea I keep coming back to again and again, which is how do you maintain excitement about a topic or story after the initial fever. I wonder if professional writers actually manage to retain whatever touched them about a story while they go through the whole thing, or whether they have to force themselves to write and good things come out. If you know an answer to this then I would love to hear about it!
I remember reading somewhere in the cornucopia of creative inspiration that is Zen in the Art of Writing that pinning the initial excitement to the page is an ability that can be learned and cultivated, but still requires you to write down the important things in the moment so that you can then come back to them later.
I've tried to do that but usually what happens when I revisit the idea is that I just think meh and move on. The idea stops being exciting, the mental fermentation that spawned it has stopped or moved to something else.
Whenever I'm making a post for my blog I usually write the first (and often final, with some minor modifications) draft in one writing spurt. It's very rare for me to publish something that takes more than one writing session (although I have done so, most recently with The Asphirinx).
One of the joys of having a blog is that I can literally write about anything that catches my fancy. There is no need for me to squeeze out words about a topic I don't feel an affinity with. And if I stop enjoying a blog post then I'll just ditch it. There're no obligations of any kind.
While nice, maybe this freedom will at the same time keep me from having to work on strengthening the neural pathways that would allow me to recover my original sense of excitement about something.
At the same time, I write because I like it, I enjoy the time I spend on it. I'm sure that forcing myself would dilute some of this joy, and that's not something I want.
Anyway, there's no real conclusion to be had here. Still, it's good food for thought.