Notes
Thanks for logging in.
MetaxuCafe UpdatesSearching Member Sites
I’ve recently added a search function so that you can limit your Google search to just the blogs that are members of MetaxuCafe. I think that will be a good resource for everyone looking for literary topics online and you’ll find it right on the front page as well as other places on the site. Now if you want to read about, say Orhan Pamuk, but only want to search the litblogs you trust, you can narrow your search right here.
Write every day? Yeah, right.
by damongarr on February 17, 2007
Do you ever get sick of hearing that? I do. Maybe it’s just because I don’t write everyday. Or maybe I’m sick of hearing it from people who have the time available to them. In this month’s Poets & Writers Walter Mosley delivers the usual lecture. He begins,
The first and most important thing that you have to know about writing is that it is something you must do everyday. Every morning or every night, whatever time it is that you have.
Well, I don’t want to hear it, but it’s hard to argue with. But then he goes on,
Getting your words down on the page takes time. How much? I write three hours every morning. It’s the first thing I do, Monday through Sunday, fifty-two weeks a year.
Well, congratu-freakin-lations. Must be hard to do with that full-time job, a toddler and a pregnant wife. Oh, wait, that’s me, not Walter Mosley. Does he have a full-time job?
He does go on to make some great points, and I don’t want to dismiss the thesis that writing is hard work.
Elsewhere in the magazine, an article by Caitlin O’Neil called “The Writer’s Triangle: Balancing Writing With Living” let’s us see the other side of the maxim. She writes, “If a writer is earning enough money, she doesn’t have enough time to write. If a writer has enough time to write, she’s broke. If a writer is cut off from people and money-generating work in order to write, she’s depressed and isolated.” Now, I won’t argue though I disagree with the last point, or at least I don’t know that there’s really anything wrong with being depressed and isolated (I could also criticize the pronoun choice, but I won’t).
It is tricky finding that balance, being fair to all aspects of your life. In an interview I heard recently with Kate Braverman she said that if you are serious about the art of writing get a well-paying job. She doesn’t suggest sacrificing your well-being by hiding out in your office and not working until finally producing your masterpiece. Instead, find a job that provides you the security you need to not let money figure in to your work and one that leaves your mind open for creative activity. This is the tack I’m taking.
Years ago, I lived what I deemed was an “artist’s life.” That meant drinking too much, quitting jobs on a whim, and living a life of poverty and degradation. But, boy, did I produce a lot of work. Too bad most of it was crap. Since then I got my act together, got my undergraduate degree, then an MFA, got a real job, got married and began having children. So, I may not write as much now (and certainly not as much as I should) but what I write is better. And I’m not so desperate to make a buck with it that I let that override artistic concerns.
Okay, so I resolve to write more, nearly everyday, but I will still cherish my sleep, my time with my family, and I’m still going to work. Three hours a day, my ass.
This post has been viewed (on this page) 426 times .
PEN World Voices Festival at MetaxuCafé
Related Discussions
Comments
“Write every day” doesn’t work for everybody. I stopped believing the tyranny of that about 12 years ago when I had my first child. I’m a working mom. I write when I can.
Nobody tells me to do anything, especially when it comes to writing. I do what works for me. As for all the other would-be writer’s axioms, even those delivered by the likes of Mosley (whose work I appreciate and respect)—they can hitch a ride with the next great grad school flavor of the year.
What can I say? I get it done; it gets published. End of story.
– Tamara Kaye Sellman (02/17 at 17-Feb 20:19 -05:00)
I agree the “write everyday regardless” is a nice maxim if you are independently wealthy. If you have a spouse, kids and a full time job things then it gets discouraging. I write when I can, usually a couple of hours on the weekend, and have to be content with that. Someday, say 10 years from now when the kids might be out of college, I can shoot for the write everyday. Until then I do what I can.
– C.A.Williams (02/20 at 20-Feb 11:52 -05:00)
I started my blog with the intention that I would write every day. That hasn’t happened yet.
I write whenever I have uninterrupted chunks of time, usually on the weekend, when my husband’s at home and when my 18 mos old daughter naps.
I work full time in public relations for government for a challenging ministry, so on most days I am too tired to write.
I am seriously considering taking some vacation time away from my family and work so that I can get through the next big chunk of my novel . . . I’ll keep you posted if I do!
– xine (02/24 at 24-Feb 16:52 -05:00)
xine
taking breaks from family is a good thing for everyone, actually. I’ve done it myself. I’ll be going away for 8 days this summer; I did an 11-day stint 2 summers ago. It was a writing conference but there were oodles of hours between workshops to write, and that’s what I did, regardless the fabulous weather. It was an excellent experience and helped to validate my writer’s life.
Tamara
– Tamara Kaye Sellman (02/26 at 26-Feb 09:55 -05:00)
I’m a total fan of taking some time away to write. I’ve taken a few hours, a few days, and one time, a couple of months. It was a once in a lifetime experience, my mother came in to stand in for me (driving and cooking). Nobody died of shock and nobody seems to have lasting psychological scars. I highly recommend it and also recommend marrying someone who values their spouse’s writing and right to write, and will do anything possible to support that writing.
– Susanito (02/26 at 26-Feb 18:48 -05:00)
I think it is absolutely essential, in the mastery of any craft, to cultivate a daily “struggle” or practice. It is not a law for becoming “successful.” But it is essential to becoming a master artisan.
Daily practice can include meditating on a project, listening to conversations, taking notes as ideas flow under the hot water of the shower… There are times when the act of typing is replaced with, say, hiking.
I believe the real question is not about making time; it’s about how to come to the page and be productive in the 10 minutes between segments of life. When I am unable to focus, for me this is a sign. Usually it means I don’t have a real conflict in mind, or I don’t know my characters yet, or I need to dump a scene and move on.
– Writer Bum #1 (04/07 at 7-Apr 08:19 -05:00)
Good points, especially Writer Bum. Support at home is critical, eh?
Here’s a question: I find it is a lot easier when I am writing poetry to write every day...just cause poems are short. There’s more of a good feedback/energy thing happening, as opposed to a novel, where you can trudge along, chapter to chapter, with it taking months before you feel any sense of completeness.
Or is that just writer selfishness?
– Victor Schwartzman (04/07 at 7-Apr 09:53 -05:00)
Writer selfishness? Victor, what is that?
“I don’t have time to write, just to blog for 30 minutes.” What is that?
Ariel Gore in “How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead” has some funny passages about these topics.
More fodder for you… Mark this under “help and willpower”.
Last year I worked with a writing coach; not right for everyone, but she encouraged me to come to the page with a daily practice. Each evening I had to email her my writing goal for the next day, 500 words at the start, and my plan for achieving this goal. 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at lunch, 5 minutes in traffic, in the elevator, on the toilet…
The next evening my email missive also had to include my word count for that day. It was like working with an AA sponsor. If I didn’t hit my goal, I had to explain why. If I didn’t email her, she would call and give me a hard time. She was completely unforgiving about my life issues and juggling of duties (family, full time job, exercise, community volunteer work). Did you write, yes or no?
Over time I was able to expand to 1000 words a day, more on the weekends. Some days are amazing. Some days are an absolute, painful struggle the likes of which are nearly unbearable (and I end up writing complete schlock). But suddenly I’m wildly prolific and discovering new insights on my craft, style, voice and characters.
– Writer Bum #1 (04/07 at 7-Apr 14:10 -05:00)
Page 1 of 1 pages of comments
Holy smokes, I hear ya!
I freelanced for five years in the seventies, but little of it was fulfilling writing. It wasn’t vomit either. Narration scripting for documentaries was what I did mostly, but there were some magazine articles, film scripts under contract (never produced, but I got paid). Since 1983 I’ve had solid day jobs (same job since 1987).
Having a day job takes the pressure off to earn money writing (hence, one doesn’t have to write commercial stuff or crap). But, unfortunately, it also uses up the time needed to write. Talk about a slippery slope.
What you wrote struck me in particular because this week I just returned to work full time, following six months off on medical leave. While on medical leave, I wrote a lot, started two blogs, and began reading fictionand poetry again. All this despite the ups and downs of prescription medications, having to exercise and diet (I have high blood pressure).
Because I was able to write regularly (and not having to wait until 10 pm, after work and when the rest of the family was sleeping, so it was quiet) I was a bit more sane. I need to write something regularly or I go a bit wonky.
Yes, having children is worth it. Getting married is good, or at least having a relationship. But while I love my children and wife… Gene Kelly may ‘gotta dance’, but I gotta write. Doesn’t matter if the writing is good or bad, either.
The solution is to somehow have enough money to have the wife and kids and support everyone in the style they want, but still create the time to write enough to keep you sane. It ain’t easy, no. Can’t write while everyone is awake and interrupting you and watching tv, so you gotta wait until later at night. Getting kinda old to do that night after night.
This is why I buy lottery tickets.
– Victor Schwartzman (02/17 at 17-Feb 20:11 -05:00)