Talking with Juliet

Had a great phone conversation with my friend Juliet tonight. We traded stories about how the past few days (my work stuff, her spyware problems). She’s getting a new, fancy computer – which I think will be great (based on the specs I heard, I think her machine kicks the crap outta mine).

We talked a lot about games (online games like Rocketmania and Tontie). We discussed older games some, as well as a book I love called Joystick Nation – which anyone who loves video games should read.

Of course, we fell to talking about writing. Some really great converastions, mostly about process and the huge difficulty of continuing to write, once out of an MFA program. It’s been about 5 years since I was in school for poetry, and

// Edit
Ok, just lost about 35 minutes there, playing Rocket Mania.

I haven’t written much since. Not in the way that I used to.

I’m sure having full-time jobs has something to do with this. But in an odd way, writing has slowly moved over into the realm of chore, of task-to-be-completed. It didn’t used to be that way in school, but back then writing was the job. Lately, at the end of the day… I don’t care to pursue the pleasure I get out of writing or finishing a poem. I want my decompression and gratification immediately. I want to go out and grab a drink, or watch a movie, or play a video game.

Another notion we kicked around was the idea of writing first thing in the morning. And it’s funny, because we’re both not really morning people. And the idea of waking up early to write is, to both of us, a big sacrifice to make for writing.

However, the more we talked it out, the more we realized – waking up early to write is possibly one of the most selfish things you can do, as far as writing goes. Wake up early and get it done: it comes before work, before any family or kids. It becomes the one certain thing you attend to, and all the rest of your day doesn’t really matter – just so long as you got your writing done.

I took to reading a few poems (mostly sonnets) lately, and it’s been a while since I’ve just read for pleasure. Earlier tonight, I went so far as to crack open a beer and sat on my front porch, reading until the sun gave out.

Talking with Juliet tonight was great. Not only did we catch up some, but I was able to keep this writerly momentum going a little bit. Just a little.