Writing Report September 3, 2021

G. Willow Wilson recently Tweeted:
“Writers who grind out 2k+ words per day: how / I have to fight to get to 1k”

I know the struggle.

Wilson doesn’t specify if she’s asking how in terms of output (all other things being equal) or in terms of finding adequate time.

The former isn’t that much of a problem for me; I can always find something I want to write about.

The latter can be a bit of a challenge.

Here’s a typical day for me – and mind you, I’m very fortunate to have a spouse who (a) is retired, and (b) likes to cook, so a lot of stuff is lifted off my plate:

• 6 – 7:30 am (approximate)  Wake up, read e-mails / news on phone, work the NYTimes mini-crossword, check Facebook & Twitter (all this done in bed)

• 8 – 10:30 am  Go to garden with Soon-ok then to gym (somedays we spend two hours at the garden, in which case no gym)

• 11 – noon  Brunch & coffee, more quick Facebook & Twitter scans before going upstairs to work

• 12:30 – 2 pm  Get the iMac fired up, take care of daily online chores, do online research (if need), if lucky start writing.

• 2 – 2:30 pm  Midafternoon snack break

• 2:30 – 7 pm (approximate)  Work that doesn’t require a lot of creativity (viz articles like this one); this block of time is flexible since dinner can fall between 4:30 to 7pm.

• 7 pm (approximate) – 10 pm  Occasionally I watch TV with Soon-ok but typically I’m upstairs writing or editing

• 10 pm – 10:30 pm  Soon-ok typically turns in at 10, shortly there after I check the daily comic strips I’m following 

• 10:30 pm – 2 am  The serious must-concentrate creative writing gets done during this period =or= I wrap things up by 11 – 11:45 pm and go downstairs to watch TV or read (but I take my phone and a notebook with me, posting my daily fictoid around this time and keeping the notebook handy to jot down any ideas that pop into me widdle bwain); go to bed around 2 am

• Repeat

Now, this is a typical day, but truth be told two days a week we’re looking after our grandson so I’m unable to get behind the computer until 7 pm; one night a week I have a Zoom conference from 5 pm – 8 pm; there are frequent schedule changes / family events / appointments that pull me away from work.

I almost never get a 6 to 10 hour uninterrupted stretch of writing time.

I still aim for 1,000 words a day.

When the juices start flowing, I can easily hit 2,000 words in two or three hours; give me a full day and I can top 6,000.

The problem is in getting those juices flowing.  The first few waking hours of my day are basically spent building up a head of steam; ideally if I could start writing in earnest around 4 pm I could – 

Oh, you noticed that, didn’t you?  Just about the time I’m getting primed for intense writing…dinner.

I can get a good flow going after dinner, but the opportunity for interruptions abound.  It’s not until later in the evening that I can really focus and put a lot of words down.

(Siderbar: I have a more and more difficult time writing to order, or to formula, because my mind rebels against shoehorning my creativity into a predetermined mold.  I’d rather let my imagination run free and follow whatever paths it leads me down that chisel out something that to me lacks any organic unity.  The Most Dangerous Man In The World, the G.I. Joe novel I wrote for the now defunct Kindle Worlds project, took two years for me to hammer out despite having the story down pat in my head simply because I was no longer occupying that space creatively, and it proved a chore working myself back up to speed to have the proper mindset to do the book justice.)

How long does it take for me to write a story?

68 years.

Seriously.

Writing for me is a lifetime endeavor.  My current work in progress took about 15 years from first concept to first draft, but that draft was written in about three or four months.

I’m now working on the third draft, down to 88,000 words from 105,000.  The editing phase is as intense as the writing phase, but for me doesn’t require the same kind of concentration.

For me it’s easier to break off in the middle of a paragraph one is editing and pick up later than to break off when the words are coming out fast and furious.

As David Gerrold recently pointed out in an online experiment he conducted on Facebook:

“I wanted to demonstrate something that most people simply do not understand -- the amount of energy that was invested in just one paragraph was considerable. 

“Now imagine having to do that same process with EVERY paragraph in a story, in a novel, in anything that is intended for an audience…the specific words, the structure of the sentences, the synthesis of thought and image and idea, the creation of underlying metaphor and subtext and theme -- all of that is part of a laborious process that can be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. 

“People who do not write have no idea what writing is. They think it's typing. They think that anyone who can type is writing. 

But storytelling is a discipline. It is a skill. It is a learned craft. It is not a casual effort. It demands hands-on experience with structure and characterization and human behavior. It requires actual thought. 

“And ... it requires practice…and it requires passion and commitment as well as understanding of the process.”

I’ll add this:
If it seems easy, it’s because the practitioner who makes it look easy has done all the long, hard work necessary to make it look easy.

© Buzz Dixon