There’s an old adage about writing, which goes something like, “If you want to be a writer, then write.” Like a lot of things in life, there’s the talking about and then there’s the doing, and the gulf between the two keeps most of us in the talking camp.
I finally, after three years and several failed starts, sat down and actually starting writing my Kenji novel. I took advantage of a family trip that had to be scheduled during the work week, and I made a deal with my wife to ensure that I had several hours each day to actually write.
I spent five days in the mountains and only left our hotel once (and that was to have a family lunch on the mountain). No skiing, no sight-seeing, just me, my Asus Eee PC 1000HE (affectionately dubbed the “Blue Ant”), and whatever my imagination could manage to drum up.
The result was I left home with just under 2,000 words and I returned home with almost 12,000. About 4,000 words were salvaged from previous works when I was trying to write the Kenji story as a series of flash fiction or short stories, but a good 6,000 words were brand new.
I spent years taking notes, reading and researching various topics, making feeble and infrequent attempts to start the novel, and trying to work out the plot in my head. When I finally took the plunge and started writing in earnest, I was shocked at how much I was able to create. Certainly, there is a lot of editing left to do, and not all of what’s been written is worth keeping, but just having this much material is serving as a huge boost to write more and write often.
If you realize you’ve been talking more about doing something than actually doing something to talk about, find a way to get going. Once you’re in motion, it’s a lot easier to stay in motion; inertia has its perks. Here are a few ideas (I used a combination of all three to get me in motion):
- Set a deadline/goal, and announce it to so many people that you’ll be embarrassed if you don’t meet it
- Take a long weekend or vacation to clear your calendar so you can actually get moving
- Read as much as you can as fast as you can about your topic; at some point, you’ll realize you have what it takes or you’ll hit a point when even you are sick of talking about
Now stop reading this and GET MOVING!