I saw somewhere recently an interview with Stephen King and that dude who wrote Game of Thrones, Greg something or another, and they were discussing King's prolific output. King told him that if he completes six pages a day he has a 540 page book in three months. He mentioned this like he was stopping by the grocery store and grabbing a loaf of bread on the way home. Assured. Nonchalant. Confident. Greg was taken aback (lighten up nerds. I know his name is George R.R. Martin. Two "r's" because he's also a nerd) at either the daily output or the cold calculation, King, some sort of word assassin with a seemingly endless line of macabre stories in his brain.
I've been sick the last week and my head is super fuzzy, so I can't recall if we've talked about SK's "On Writing". If you haven't read it, do so. It's illuminating in a number of ways, and not to say that everything he says is right, but quite a bit resonated with me.
I spent most of my time with Outside Service and Prove Me Wrong writing daily, going for 2K words per day during the week, and 5K on the weekend. Sometimes 2K would be 3500, sometimes it'd be 1450. I found not to beat myself up on it, especially on days where I wasn't feeling all that dialed in. Also I took a note from my brother's philosophy "I can have one bad day, I can't have two in a row".
My most prolific day was a weekend day where I wrote almost 20K. Woke up early, had no other plans, and was just feeling it.
Part of it is what draft you're writing. First drafts are easy, just fucking go. Dump it all in, and you'll sort it out later. Subsequent drafts have a little more structure, you know where you are ultimately going. First drafts I'd allow myself to take every single tangent I wanted, second drafts I could take a few, by the time I'd be working on a third draft tangents are a luxury I couldn't afford.
The absolute best thing I did for my writing was setting myself up to succeed, and I started it halfway through my first draft of OS. It didn't matter where I was on a day's count, if I was just starting into something I was excited to write about, I'd let myself write about two paragraphs, then I'd cut it for the day. That way, tomorrow me got to dive right into something good from the jump, and I'd have no time sitting there staring at a blank document trying to figure out where to go. It's the literary equivalent of parking on top of a hill when you're learning to drive stick. Set yourself up to succeed. That's a big way I'd hit 2K more often then not, the first thousand words each day I'd thought of since yesterday, and that momentum would take me to another natural stopping point so that tomorrow me could grab the baton and run with it.
The second best thing I did was I stopped using Word. Word fucking sucks. Also I'd used it for so many assignments and things for work, it felt like work. I found Scrivener, which at the time was pretty cheap, maybe it still is. It's designed to help you write, and you can leave yourself little notes off to the side (chapters that had a lot of characters I'd write myself notes on little idiosyncrasies I'd introduced of those characters, for example), and mostly, it looks nothing like Word.
But that's what worked for me. Writing styles and habits are as personal as they come, but that's why On Writing helped. It gave me some ideas of what to do, as well as a few of what would never work for me.
And FWIW, you don't have to write a book to be a real writer anymore than you have to run a marathon to be a real runner. But if you ever do decide to go down that path, let me know how I can help.
Love all of this. We had to have talked about SK's on writing. I've read it thrice and always find it yields something great.
Back in February 21 when you and I were conversing more, I made a decision to go to 1000 words a post but what I ended up figuring out was that in this format (blog, newsletter) readership slacked off at more than 500 words so I slowly slipped back to that.
I for sure know my worth as a writer has nothing to do with a book and to be honest, in todays "reading climate" I think that a lack of people reading it etc. would cause more angst than the effort is worth. Hence part of the willingness to just let it come when it comes.
I also know nothing in life comes if we don't make a forced effort. Just not how things work in my experience.
There's a lot of truth there. But there's a certain level of "who are you writing for" to think about. You are right, reading, especially books, is happening less and less, and writing books to supplement income/new career is unlikely. But if you write for yourself, while it sound somewhat self-indulgent, is the only way to come through the process without anger or resentment.
You mentioned "artist or whatever I'm called." This struck me because I've been thinking a lot about what makes an artist. It's a very popular tag to give yourself these days because you can charge more for your work and appear more impressive. I install landscape lights for a living, but if I call myself a lighting artist (how gross and I've seen it) then certain people are impressed and I can charge more. We can all agree that the person who paints and sells those paintings is an artist. Easy one. But what about the NFL receiver who says (I saw this on ESPN) the way he catches the ball is his art. What?
I asked a friend of mines mom who's been an artist her whole life what she thought, and she actually sided with the receiver. Her reason changed how I thought about it. She defined an artist as someone who does something at a certain level. So it's not what you do, but how well you do it. If your coding skills are something to behold, you are a coding artist. If you suck as a painter, you are not an artist. I'm curious what you think? How do you determine if someone, including yourself, is an artist?
I wrote about this on my previous blog. Perhaps I'll revisit and post on the substacks. While I don't care who refers to themselves as what, I think creating is important to the "art" part of it. I don't know that I'd refer to myself as an artist, but I've been vocal forever about how it irks me when people (mostly in the creative space) talk about acting, music, writing, all forms of visual art as "their craft". I guess I'd rather spend my time creating than spending time working on flowery titles and overblown definitions.
I have to work very hard on being less "oh shut the fuck up" and just letting people do what they want to do.
Sure Tyler, to us you're just a guy working at McDonald's, but if you want to call yourself a Big Mac artist, go the fuck ahead. I don't have the energy to argue with you.
I agree with hearing people talk about their craft. Whenever I hear, "I don't mean to judge", I think, I do, that guy is a duche bag. I sound crotchety but you know I'm a dream of a person.
So I wrote my book “The Legend of the Kettle Daughter” as a straight nonfiction memoir, 80,000 words, then distilled it down to a 50 page long book of poems and digital art. The 80,000 words was rather excruciating and forced. The book that it turned into sprang up like an overnight mushroom. The artwork was a total surprise, a gift from the universe. My British publishing company (it’s really small but an amazing press) visualized this book before I could. From the 80,000 words of real life, my book turned into a myth that I made up about my mother based on stories she made up to deal with her torturous childhood. I am still completely in love with my book, the way you love a child. I think there is magic that happens and the only way you find it is by following the sentences and sharing the stories that only you can tell. Other people will help you write your book and your book will likely be a trickster, transforming its bones and being into something you could never have predicted.
I've been sick the last week and my head is super fuzzy, so I can't recall if we've talked about SK's "On Writing". If you haven't read it, do so. It's illuminating in a number of ways, and not to say that everything he says is right, but quite a bit resonated with me.
I spent most of my time with Outside Service and Prove Me Wrong writing daily, going for 2K words per day during the week, and 5K on the weekend. Sometimes 2K would be 3500, sometimes it'd be 1450. I found not to beat myself up on it, especially on days where I wasn't feeling all that dialed in. Also I took a note from my brother's philosophy "I can have one bad day, I can't have two in a row".
My most prolific day was a weekend day where I wrote almost 20K. Woke up early, had no other plans, and was just feeling it.
Part of it is what draft you're writing. First drafts are easy, just fucking go. Dump it all in, and you'll sort it out later. Subsequent drafts have a little more structure, you know where you are ultimately going. First drafts I'd allow myself to take every single tangent I wanted, second drafts I could take a few, by the time I'd be working on a third draft tangents are a luxury I couldn't afford.
The absolute best thing I did for my writing was setting myself up to succeed, and I started it halfway through my first draft of OS. It didn't matter where I was on a day's count, if I was just starting into something I was excited to write about, I'd let myself write about two paragraphs, then I'd cut it for the day. That way, tomorrow me got to dive right into something good from the jump, and I'd have no time sitting there staring at a blank document trying to figure out where to go. It's the literary equivalent of parking on top of a hill when you're learning to drive stick. Set yourself up to succeed. That's a big way I'd hit 2K more often then not, the first thousand words each day I'd thought of since yesterday, and that momentum would take me to another natural stopping point so that tomorrow me could grab the baton and run with it.
The second best thing I did was I stopped using Word. Word fucking sucks. Also I'd used it for so many assignments and things for work, it felt like work. I found Scrivener, which at the time was pretty cheap, maybe it still is. It's designed to help you write, and you can leave yourself little notes off to the side (chapters that had a lot of characters I'd write myself notes on little idiosyncrasies I'd introduced of those characters, for example), and mostly, it looks nothing like Word.
But that's what worked for me. Writing styles and habits are as personal as they come, but that's why On Writing helped. It gave me some ideas of what to do, as well as a few of what would never work for me.
And FWIW, you don't have to write a book to be a real writer anymore than you have to run a marathon to be a real runner. But if you ever do decide to go down that path, let me know how I can help.
Love all of this. We had to have talked about SK's on writing. I've read it thrice and always find it yields something great.
Back in February 21 when you and I were conversing more, I made a decision to go to 1000 words a post but what I ended up figuring out was that in this format (blog, newsletter) readership slacked off at more than 500 words so I slowly slipped back to that.
I for sure know my worth as a writer has nothing to do with a book and to be honest, in todays "reading climate" I think that a lack of people reading it etc. would cause more angst than the effort is worth. Hence part of the willingness to just let it come when it comes.
I also know nothing in life comes if we don't make a forced effort. Just not how things work in my experience.
There's a lot of truth there. But there's a certain level of "who are you writing for" to think about. You are right, reading, especially books, is happening less and less, and writing books to supplement income/new career is unlikely. But if you write for yourself, while it sound somewhat self-indulgent, is the only way to come through the process without anger or resentment.
PS: I still write 100% on my phone with my thumbs...
Currently googling how to call child protective services for an adult. I still don't know if I should be amazed, horrified, or saddened.
I usually recommend starting with amazing and move to saddened then horrified
I also still use the FLOWSTATE app, which if you don't write for "x" amount of time, it erases everything for good.
That gives me more anxiety than it probably should.
You mentioned "artist or whatever I'm called." This struck me because I've been thinking a lot about what makes an artist. It's a very popular tag to give yourself these days because you can charge more for your work and appear more impressive. I install landscape lights for a living, but if I call myself a lighting artist (how gross and I've seen it) then certain people are impressed and I can charge more. We can all agree that the person who paints and sells those paintings is an artist. Easy one. But what about the NFL receiver who says (I saw this on ESPN) the way he catches the ball is his art. What?
I asked a friend of mines mom who's been an artist her whole life what she thought, and she actually sided with the receiver. Her reason changed how I thought about it. She defined an artist as someone who does something at a certain level. So it's not what you do, but how well you do it. If your coding skills are something to behold, you are a coding artist. If you suck as a painter, you are not an artist. I'm curious what you think? How do you determine if someone, including yourself, is an artist?
I wrote about this on my previous blog. Perhaps I'll revisit and post on the substacks. While I don't care who refers to themselves as what, I think creating is important to the "art" part of it. I don't know that I'd refer to myself as an artist, but I've been vocal forever about how it irks me when people (mostly in the creative space) talk about acting, music, writing, all forms of visual art as "their craft". I guess I'd rather spend my time creating than spending time working on flowery titles and overblown definitions.
I have to work very hard on being less "oh shut the fuck up" and just letting people do what they want to do.
Sure Tyler, to us you're just a guy working at McDonald's, but if you want to call yourself a Big Mac artist, go the fuck ahead. I don't have the energy to argue with you.
I agree with hearing people talk about their craft. Whenever I hear, "I don't mean to judge", I think, I do, that guy is a duche bag. I sound crotchety but you know I'm a dream of a person.
So I wrote my book “The Legend of the Kettle Daughter” as a straight nonfiction memoir, 80,000 words, then distilled it down to a 50 page long book of poems and digital art. The 80,000 words was rather excruciating and forced. The book that it turned into sprang up like an overnight mushroom. The artwork was a total surprise, a gift from the universe. My British publishing company (it’s really small but an amazing press) visualized this book before I could. From the 80,000 words of real life, my book turned into a myth that I made up about my mother based on stories she made up to deal with her torturous childhood. I am still completely in love with my book, the way you love a child. I think there is magic that happens and the only way you find it is by following the sentences and sharing the stories that only you can tell. Other people will help you write your book and your book will likely be a trickster, transforming its bones and being into something you could never have predicted.