I’ve Been Writing a Ton, But Not Publishing Much

I try to set these goals for myself: publish something once a week. Most times, it’s more like “publish a couple of times a month and hopefully more than once a month.” I know I will be better for it but sometimes life just gets in the way. I always wonder how much writing I could get done if I was a full-time writer.

I’m reminded of a story about John Steinbeck. He would sharpen 40 pencils each day and write until each one was blunt. It would take him about eight hours. It’s crazy that all those movies and novels he wrote by pencil and paper, longhand. His callouses would get so bad, he would sandpaper them down so he could continue to hold a pencil. Writing is not for pussies. No wonder he was so good — look at how much practice he had!

I have been writing, though, even if I haven’t been publishing much. I have been putting a ton of time into three articles I was hired to write about coaching. I believe they are about ready for publication but the timeline and logistics are out of my control, so I’m not sure how or when they will see the light of day.

However, if I ever write a book, I’m hoping these three articles are the outline for a couple of chapters of the book. The writing is something I know well and enjoy writing and talking about. In fact, I have spent as much time talking to people about this subject as I have writing about it.

Because of the depth and passion for these three pieces, and the fact that my school district I work for is looking to publish them, I have put hours into this writing and I know I’m not done. Honestly, I don’t want to look foolish or misrepresent myself or others professionally, so the extra layer of pressure has been new for me while working on these essays over the last month.

In fact, that extra layer of pressure was daunting at first but became a positive. It made me want to talk to lots of people, gather information, email former players, talk to other coaches, and try to synthesize my ideas into something tangible and worthwhile. I sure hope I hit my mark!

So, while I haven’t been publishing much lately, I sure have been writing a lot lately. I guess that’s how it goes sometimes. Hopefully, I will be ready to share three cool articles in the next week or so.

At least I hope they are cool since I didn’t write them out in pencil after sandpapering my fingers. I hope I am tough enough to write something good.