No Separation

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Writing Life

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In order to do something well, we must not think of it as separate from the rest of our life. It must not be sacred, protected, or sequestered. The tendency for many writers is to live two lives – one where they are doing what we all do – living, working, grocery shopping, going to the dentist – and the other where they write. I have lived like this. However, once I allowed what I understand about writing – the process, the discipline – to infiltrate my life at the office, once I considered how I could apply what I learn while writing to my day job, and likewise, once I allowed my writing to be influenced by what I do all day, by the scars and secrets of being in an office all day or squeezing in a few errands on the way home, the writing became part of all that I do; it became real, and it overflowed the banks I had built to contain it. When you see all of your life’s experience as material for your writing, all the people you know as characters, all your experience as research for place or perspective, this is how you live as a writer. This is when you come to be a writer even when you are not writing. dm

Heads Down

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

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I have come to believe there is a lever that drops putting a certain law into motion when I sit down to write. The simple act of putting my butt in the chair begins a reaction, a cause and effect which are very nearly as predictable as the sunrise. The elements of resistance1 are unleashed, sent out to destroy any hope of creative momentum – a weird pain in my leg, the dog barking at someone inside the house, a knock at the door, the anti-virus on the PC pops up to start a scan, I suddenly remember that task that needs to be added to my to-do-list2. I have learned that trying to produce anything of lasting value will most assuredly set off a metaphysical blitzkrieg.

The good news is that I know what this is. I recognize it, and I am able to lasso, hold it down, identify it and label it when it happens. And there is more good news. Because of this I am also able to tell you about it. If you are doing the work, then you know too that what I am speaking of is as real as can be.

So what is the solution to this phenomenon? Adjust the blinders, put your head down, and keep going. Know that you are stronger than all these. Know that what you are doing, at that very moment, is infinitely more important3. dm

 

1Read the “War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

2All of these happened to me one evening this month while trying to write, all within the space of about thirty minutes.

3 Seriously, read the “War of Art” by Steven Pressfield.

Why Readers Read

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Contract with the Reader

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The best stories take a turn at some point, early on. There lies some element, a phrase, a texture, that strikes the reader as so human, so emotionally charged and distant from the intellect, that a switch is thrown, disbelief is suspended, and the label “fiction” falls away. The characters stand up off the page and the story at that very point becomes part of where the reader has been.

It is at this intersection that the story becomes forever a part of the reader, producing the same chemistry and cementing the same memories as fact. This is why readers read. (And this is why writers write.) This is the gold. This is what they (we) crave. This act of reading, silently, alone, holds the potential of altering one’s experience.

Unlike TV or film, there is something that happens when we actively construct meaning from strings of letters. Words are produced that alter our soul’s catalogue, carve out who we are, and keep us coming back for more. dm

Outsourcing

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

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No one has a time-management problem. The playing field is level. We all have the same number of hours in our day. How we use our time is a choice, and it reflects only one thing – what we believe to be our priorities. What you do have is a priority-management challenge. We all do. There are a lot of demands being made of us and we are trying to develop or maintain the discipline to write (exercise, meditate, whatever).

Know now that it is not about time, it is about priorities.

In prioritizing the demands of life, think in terms of outsourcing. It is a simple rule. Could I hire someone to do what I am about to do? If so, then it should not be at the top of my priority-management list. If it is at the top of my list, I am at risk of leaving the wildly important undone.

Here’s the fact. If I drop dead tomorrow, my spouse or kid or realtor, is going to hire a handyman to come in and knock out my entire to-do-list, plus some, in under a week. The house will look great and I’ll be dead. How hard that guy has to work will be a direct measure of my priorities in life. If I die and no handyman is needed, my priorities were jacked up.

The handyman will not take your toddler to get ice cream. He will not fly your wife to Florida for your anniversary. He will not go see your elderly grandfather. And he will not write your novel.

Prioritize accordingly. dm

Writer, Editor

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Creative Process/Craft, Role of the Writer

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One discipline of writing that is very difficult is developing the invaluable ability to get an unfinished idea down on paper.

It is so tempting (and often automatic) to give in to yourself – your most immediate reader – and start editing as soon as an idea hits the front of your brain. To allow a pure idea all the way through to the paper without any editing is nearly impossible. But it is a rare and treasured thing. For it is not the quality of the expression or the idea that is so important to capture, it is what might come of one word or some other detail in that unfinished, raw scribble.

One reason this aspect of the discipline is difficult is that we have been trained, especially in business, to refine everything before release, and to refine as soon as possible. We are groomed to interrogate a thought or idea as soon as we have it, to strengthen and polish it, and then – only then – allow it to see the light of day. For many of us, this way of working is part of what makes us successful in corporate life. But, such auto-editing is designed to produce quality analytical output, not quality creative output.

There are many raw thoughts, raw words, that should not be trimmed back, that are truest without being refined. As we tromp around our creative orchards, it is not about well-trimmed trees and weed-free brambles. It is about spotting the nubs along each branch, recognizing them for what they are, and making space for them to take off. dm

Subconscious Epiphany

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Creative Process/Craft, Writing Discipline

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One morning recently I was working on a chapter of my current project. An hour and a half in, I came to a point where I decided to stop, heading off to work – meetings, email, and documentation – to make money.

Early that afternoon I was in a meeting. I was focused, contributing, really earning my pay, when it hit me. I had stopped writing that morning at a really strong chapter break, and had not realized it! It had been hours since I had “thought” about the passage at all, but suddenly I was really excited about this new-found fact.

The brain is a stunning device. While I was consciously working on business matters, my subconscious was scanning its images of the pages I had been working on at home more than six hours before. My subconscious had had an epiphany and it stormed up, kicking in the door of my conscious to deliver it!

The discipline of writing every day can earn you near constant concentration on your writing, regardless of what you might actually be up to. Give your subconscious something to do all day besides think about food and your weekend plans. Your brain has a back-office that can be working for you while you work for the man.