I'm halfway through Stephen King's On Writing right now, which we were going to read in a class last semester, but never got around to. Fine. It's spectacularly well written and fun to read. I've never read a Stephen King book before, as horror is not my genre, but maybe it'd be worth it. Say what you will, he knows what he's doing.
King suggests, as most serious writers do, a daily quota. He himself writes no less than 2000 words per day, which translates to about ten pages or so. Others write for two or four hours per day. I need to do this. Since graduation, I've written very little, and yet, I claim to have aspirations. I also engender constant fears that I don't love writing as much as they say I'm supposed to, which is of course nebulous and unmeasurable.
But alas, the Bible tells us "if ye do my will, ye shall know of the doctrine." That is to say, don't criticize the advice until you've tried it. Therefore, I hereby pledge myself to a goal.
There, that sounds good. Wait, what? Numbers? No. It's enough that I set a goal. Numerical goals sound like the part of my Mormon mission I had trouble with. It sounds so restrictive. What if I do the deep-down wrong thing because I'm too focused on a quota, like my initial impression of the cop who pulled me over on I-15 yesterday for going 4mph over the limit? Generally speaking, I tend to worry far more about potential exceptions to rules than the rules themselves. What if we were speeding to the hospital? You'd be sorry then!
We weren't, though.
So I started thinking. The cop who pulled me over was actually a very nice guy, and did absolutely no harm. He simply suggested that it's not wise to pass an Idaho state trooper when in excess of the speed limit, no matter by how much. Not a terrible suggestion--one I shouldn't have needed, but still, he didn't ticket me, and I then drove slower and safer for the rest of the trip. I realized only a little later down the road, after my heart slowed to a healthy pace, that this particular cop who had so vexed me actually performed his duties of serving and protecting with great aplomb.
So maybe there is a way to enforce meaningful numerical goals to yield a result. If there was no speed limit, it'd be much harder to discern between safe and unsafe drivers. And even if there are exceptions, such instances are rare, at least when compared to the good that the law accomplishes. I hereby pledge myself to a numerical goal. I will dedicate at least one continuous hour per day simply on my creative writing projects. This isn't much, but it's more than I've done since graduation, and besides, unlike Stephen King, I'm not getting paid for this.
There are indeed a couple May 31 deadlines for journals I'd like to hit with my essay "Wartime," though I haven't worked on it in almost a month. It's pretty close. Besides, I just need to get something out. I also received a tip on a possible solicited article for Salt Lake magazine, so I have things to do. Now, if only the French Open wasn't on...
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5 responses:
That's a really cool idea, honey. I don't know why we HASS majors are so afraid of numbers- it must be ingrained.
Actually, one hour is pretty lame. Better aim for two.
2000 words a day? 4-6 hours a day? This blows my mind, Jeff. Maybe I have a problem though. I want to be a writer but I can hardly get myself to write these days. I got a blog so that I can keep my thoughts together electronically and I do sit with a notebook every now and then to write down more thoughts but I can't write anything outside myself! I feel so uncreative these days. I've done some writing exercises and went through The Right to Write by Julia Cameron (pretty good)but I can't do any of this on my own. Any ideas? It's just a matter of doing it, and I'm not making time and I can't ever unwind, away from the internal critic...
Yeah, I know what you mean, Marcus. I go through alternating periods of activity and inactivity all the time with my writing. In my experience, which is far from grand, books like those you mentioned are helpful only to a certain degree.
Orson Scott Card said that he walks down the street and goes about his business and sees at least four stories occurring around him every day. I'm not quite that prolific, but I do find that I have to let the ideas come to me, as opposed to actively searching for them. At least, such is the case with fiction. It's impossible to start from scratch.
You said you can't unwind, so maybe you could start with writing a little nonfiction about why. I don't know if you're much of a personal essay or nonfiction writer, but I think it does a lot of good to dig deep within yourself and discover what blocks and complexities are in there. If it's external pressures or reasons, write about those. My best nonfiction (by far) comes when I write about things that are bothering me or getting in my way, be they personal issues or complaints about global things. Besides, writing about them tends to serve the purpose of solving them once in a while.
As far as time, though, I shouldn't begin to feign competence at that. I only have the time right now because I'm done with school and waiting for a job to start--a sort of transition time. It seems to me that finding the time to write amidst a full-time normal life requires dedication to a specific time, and a goal. Nobody ever said it had to be 4 hours per day. That's what King did, but he's only one example, and I'm sure he started out much slower. Just some thoughts.
I read his book a while ago and agree, it is a good read and very helpful to aspiring writers.
On the horror front, went to see the new movie "Drag Me To Hell". Don't usually like them, but this one was very well done. Recommend it.
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