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8,000 days.
Twenty-two years ago I got the best writing advice I ever received. Advice simple, powerful and profound. Every time I think about it, it humbles me.
It’s simple to understand, but difficult to do. It’s the single number one reason I feel that I am still struggling with my writing.
Like many would be authors I used to get bogged down in the myth of the writer: that there’s some mysterious alchemical brew of Discipline Inspiration, Talent, and Education that come together in a dark and stormy night in a garret apartment somewhere in Eastern Europe and a writer is created.
Go to any bookstore in the world and you’ll find whole racks devoted to the Writing Myth. Plots, characters, format, inspiration, marketing…It’s all covered. All you need is that one, essential THING that we can offer, that you are missing, and you’ll be a successful writer.
I don’t think there’s any magic formula to becoming a writer. What works for me might not work for you. I don’t outline, And I work hard at characters, understanding that’s my weak point. You might plot everything and have characters come naturally. But his advice applies equally to both of us.
The best piece of advice I ever heard came from a lecture by Ray Bradbury I attended in 1986. It was a pat answer to a pat question, one that I’m sure he gets asked nearly every day.
Q: How do you become a writer?
A:: Write every day for a year.
The explanation Bradbury gave was simple. It is impossible to do anything, day in and day out, for a whole year and not get better. Musicians practice, Surgeons Intern, Teachers lecture. And no matter how bad you are at the beginning, no matter how little talent or aptitude you have, you will get better.
I’ve sold articles and had essays published in Student newspapers and magazines. And I’ve entered writing contests and written screenplays. But I’ve never been able to make the leap to professional, because I’ve never given myself time to.
And there’s this hole. It’s part lost opportunity- Even if I become successful, I’ll never be the hot young writer now. I’ll never be the Bret Easton Ellis, or the First Writer of the New Millennium( YWeah- That was a dream once.).
That’s not a knock. I’m sure I will be successful. And I am happy. I’m raising two wonderful girls, And I still Love my wonderful wife ( 19 years! Can you believe it?). I’ve put off my writing for the more prosaic goals of education and career.
But I do wonder… What could I have accomplished in the last 8,000 days.
That’s good advice. I should try it. I *type* every day, but I don’t *write* every day.
Thanks. I’m trying. I do feel rusty… I’ve found that my articles have a tendency to run out of steam before I’m finished with them.
Great article. This really hit close to home.
Good advice, but not so easy to follow. Aspiring writers want to daydream about what it would or will be like when they’re successful writers (however you define that term). So, I don’t think most aspiring writers really want to be writers, just like most people who say they want to be successful actors would probably truly despise the hard work that’s involved; they just want the glamour. They prefer to “aspire” until they “expire”. Which is fine; it’s fun to daydream, and it does no real harm. I know. I’m an aspiring writer, trying to ditch the aspiring part. I could be wrong about all that; who knows.
I can help you with your issue of having your articles run out of steam before you finish them. It’s not your articles, it’s you. Your interest will wane if you keep plugging away at the same article or book for any period of time. Instead, create a stable of articles. Add to them whenever you feel like it, whenever the interest hits. You can still write every day, but work on whatever article interests you at that moment. When you feel your interest waning, move on to another one, and repeat until you want to go do something else. Same goes for books, essays or any other writing.
Not my method — go buy Gerald Weinberg’s book, “Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method” — you’ll be glad you did. And if you make it big, send me a couple of thousand or million bucks for helping you get there
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