WRITER’S TO-DO LIST:
- Wake up
- Cash royalty check
- Work on screenplay
- Meet friends at beach…
The tongue-and-cheek to-do list above is appealing, but far removed from the reality of the Writer’s Life. The profession is not for everyone. Writing takes an enormous amount of time and emotional investment. Most wannabes lack the self-discipline necessary to succeed. However, if you’re determined to create a Writer’s Life for yourself, you’ll make greater progress if you keep a few suggestions in mind:
READ: Devour novels, short stories, blogs, the back of soup cans and every written word you can get your hands on. Read like a wolf eats. Each well-tuned sentence finds a home in your soul and from this realm your own arsenal will emerge.
GET DIRTY: Life is not clean for writers. You can’t write about a character with a broken heart if your heart has never been shredded. You must experience everything that you can. If the writer’s life is for you, be ready for frequent exhaustion.
OBSERVE: Inside every writer getting his or her hands dirty is a silent obserer, a quiet wall-flower who watches evey detail and records them. Observe the widest range of events possible. Pay attention to your next feast at Taco King and the way a potential lover sounds on the phone.
STOP DRINKING AND DRUGING: Better yet, don’t start. Contrary to myth, drugs and alcohol will NOT enhance your creativity. Any substance abuse will dull your talent and eventually silence you.
EARN SOME MONEY: The starving artist routine is fun for a little while, (about one week). Starving and worrying about the rent is not a good use of your talent. Find a decent position that pays you enough to pursue your writing career in relative comfort.
LEARN: Acquiring knowledge leads to better characters and story ideas. Learning also makes you smart. Smart people are good writers. Dumb people are not and never will be.
EMBRACE OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a debilitating disease for normal people but quite a valuable tool for writers. Forget perfection, but obsess about your characters, their actions, your choice of adjectives and verbs. Obsession is not a disorder for a writer, but a prerequisite.
EXERCISE: Spending hours hunched over a laptop places unnatural weight on your skeletal system. The sedentary nature of writing leaves ones muscles weak and eyes strained. Work the kinks out and prevent injuries by exercising daily. Lift weights, run, Yoga, whatever makes you happy. The adrenaline will infuse your writing with energy and keep you healthy.
WRITE: Talent, like potential, does not make you a writer. Writing makes you a writer. If you write a lot you’ll eventually do it well.
In future weeks we’ll explore each of these topics further. In the mean time, good writing.
LL
