3 minutes
As I was agonising and struggling with voice and conceptual string, I began to read Catherine Deveny’s Use Your Words: A Myth-Busting, No-Fear Approach to Writing. You know the saying, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, or this case, when the writer is floundering, Deveny will appear.
The key thing that hit me that that this thinking of structure, conceptual strings, and the such was really just a distraction from the writing. Do the writing and let it work out those problems.
It reminded me of a book I read on procrastination which said one of the most common ways to procrastinate was to read books on procrastination. I often think of that that when I embark on any projects. Its very tempting to spend time on setting up all the various files, folders, and such so that I can be efficient with my work. It was something I used to do all the time. Now, I just do and build the system as I work. Not only is this more productive, its also a better system, as its built to the needs of the project rather than becoming an imposition on the project when it is running. Essentially, approach the productivity system with a prototyping mindset, rather than trying to retrofit it because you are suffering from structural fixedness.
Deveny writes about something similar about writers who put off writing until they can go away for a writing retreat so that they will have unbroken time to focus. Weeks go by arranging things in anticipation of the writing – instead of writing. Stephen King in On Writing writes how he wrote his first books in the laundry room of his house while teaching at a high school. I know people who have spent a lot of time and money setting up their creative space even before they have created anything. Deveny says if you have ten minutes, you can write – anywhere, anytime. I like how she thinks.
Another one of my productivity ‘insights’, which is essentially an excuse, is time of day. I have read many books such as Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, where the habits of various writers are examined. Tim Ferriss always asks his podcast guest what their morning habits are. There is a fetishisation of writing in the morning. While true that its best to write then, I have also used it as an excuse to not write as I have missed the ‘golden’ writing time. ‘Oh well – tomorrow I will wake up even earlier.’ Never works.
Deveny also writes about this. She reckons its best to write when one has the time. I found this out a few months ago, when after a futile morning of not writing, I gave up and headed to the local cafe. While waiting for my bacon and eggs, I thought – ‘ten minutes of writing while waiting, why not’. I left almost two hours later after having written more than a 1000 words. I was reminded of this again recently, when after coming to the co-working space at lunchtime and then struggling to write, when my new Czech writing buddy – Matin – said he had written 2000 words. Damn. So I sat and wrote – few hours later, I had 1300+ words done. A lousy day ended up being very productive. And I was writing in the afternoon. Fuck the morning.
So I am taking what Deveny is suggesting to heart and just writing. I will let the writing sort out the structural and conceptual issues. I will trust the writing and the writing process. It will be much easier to edit a large something, than have nothing to edit.