“1. A thousand words a day–or two hours of revision–five days a week for the rest of your life”. Carolyn See
It’s time to come clean, I love writing craft books I have a lot of them…so many that at least fifty are boxed up in the cellar because I don’t have room in my office for any more. So when I told my husband I was going to Barnes and Noble for a art magazine, that wasn’t the whole truth… I had to go check the writing/publishing section. Yes, it’s a bit of an addiction but when I saw that Anne Lamott blurbed the cover of this book Making a Literary Life I had to get it. It’s not a new book, it was published in 2002 but it’s FULL of practical, inspirational words.
The quote at the top is rule #1 in Carolyn See’s book. She has 9. Another rule is Pretend you’re a writer. Maybe you already think you are, but a lot of beginning writers don’t. If you were a writer where would you go, what would you do everyday. In others words “fake it until you make it”. Good advice. When I was starting out in the chef world (self-taught) I had a lot of opportunity to test this theory. I couldn’t let my fellow chefs see that I had a lot less experience than they did. So I did what I thought chefs did. I hung out with chefs after work, I watched them work, I took classes, I practiced every day and I read, read and read about chefs, cooking and restaurants. And it worked, I became the chef that the newbies came to for help. I’m proud to say that many of these newbies became quite successful chefs. I pretended I was an experienced chef and by doing so I became an experienced chef. Voila!
Seems easy, doesn’t it.
Today, think about what a writer would do on a given day. Well # 1 they would write, because if you are a writer and you don’t write, I got nothing for you. Remember 2008, is no excuses. That means I spend 2 hours a night watching bad t.v. because I’m procrastinating writing doesn’t work. Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag