The Smartest Advice I’ve Heard About Writing
And Why I’m Afraid I Can’t Take It
A Top Ten Worth Reading
I recently read Dew Langrial’s review of her own top ten best stories about writing. And you know, they really are the best. Kudos for her insight, clarity, and honesty.
I am not a new writer. I’m well-published (as we used to say) and long in the tooth (as they say of horses).
“My God, Melinda,” said an acquaintance I’d recently re-met in Paris — she knew me in my forties. “You’re pushing eighty.” Not quite, but I will be 78 in three months. I’m old enough. And my age serves me well as a writer.
Still, I’m relatively new to online self-publishing and all that it entails (which is so much more than just writing). Just as important, I’m navigating a new era in the trajectory of the written word. Naturally, I’m drawn to pieces about writing. I like to see how others do it and to understand how they think about their writing.
Dew Langrial is one of my favorites on Medium. Whether her topic is productivity, achieving, rejection or any other arena, she doesn’t disappoint. And the piece I’d like to point out to you now is no exception.
Of ten stories in Dew’s “How To Write Well” collection, I was surprisingly drawn “How To Become an Effective Writer in One Day.” Normally such hyperbole in a title turns me off, but it was written by Dew, so I gave it a whirl.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it also hooked me: I’m a good writer. I’ve got skills and confidence, but….imagine how great if I could also be an “effective” writer — in one day, no less!
So I dug in. After reading the piece, I left this comment:
As usual, Dew, right on. I have no problem with #2 but your first suggestion — yikes! Yes, but what if I CAN’T? You have inspired me to write about this.
What’s My Problem?
Dew offers two simple, straight-forward suggestions. Problem is, I can only do half of them.
- Reading curfew for 24-hours
- Freedom to write badly.
No problem with #2.
When you’ve been writing as long as I, you realize that it’s true: writers are a tortured lot and I among them, especially when I must, as Dorothy Parker famously put it, “kill my little darlings.” Otherwise, I would write too much, not well, repetitively, and without getting rid of the garbage. In short, I’d be a bad writer.
For each 20-page article or 300-page book I have ever submitted as a manuscript, I easily churned out ten or more drafts and wrote — conservatively — five times as many words. God knows how many drafts happen when I create on a screen.
Either way, believe me, I’ve given myself permission to write that “shitty draft,” as Dew calls it. Yes, I will occasionally coddle a pet paragraph for hours, refusing to give it up. But for the most part, I’m vigilant about pruning.
But oh, #1 is a killer: 24-hour curfew from everything but writing.
It sent shivers of fear through my soul. No Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, no TV at all. Also, no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Clubhouse. No reading of any kind, unless it’s “directly related to your topic” and then “only the parts that support your piece.”
Seriously? I assume she also means no playing Words With Friends? I know there’s no hope for me, despite her promise:
If you go through this 24-hour reading curfew, you’ll have a masterpiece ready for publishing.
How the Hell Did I Get Here?
The short answer is simple: Like everyone else, my attention has been highjacked. My mind is not the same mind that spent the better part of four decades churning out books and magazine articles.
Granted, there were distractions then, too. I often disappeared down a rabbit hole of research, spending days in a library thumbing through Dewey decimal cards.
Feeling overwhelmed is not new either. I’d collect a mass of information and ideas and then attempt to make something of them.
But eventually, I’d figure out the right order, come up with enticing hooks, and entwine ideas and stories into a seamless, accessible read. It was hard work. Some days I sat at my typewriter or computer for eight-hour stretches.
I punctuated my days with brief breaks. A meal. A dog walk. Coffee with a friend. But it was always right back to work.
Yes, there were days I had trouble getting started, days I gave myself off, but I was the little engine that could.
Where is that woman?
Too Much Time/Too Much Freedom
Again, I defer to Dew’s wisdom:
Is your mind drawn in several directions at once? That’s because your boundless freedom is an obstacle.
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” it’s the so-called Parkinson’s Law.
Expanding on Parkinson’s Law, if you are not time-bound to complete a project, you’ll never start it.
Eureka! Boundless freedom, indeed.
Ironically, I’m in what many see as an enviable position: no strings, no shoulds. For the most part, I answer to no one. I have no deadlines, except those I impose on myself.
This also means that the social aspect of writing has evaporated into cyberspace. I miss the back-and-forth with agents, editors, and fellow creators. I always wrote alone, but I was embedded in an intellectual village.
Online publishing eventually engenders community. I email a few Medium writers and send them test pieces…sometimes, but not often. I sense that my circle is widening. But it’s virtual community and — for me — more diffuse and harder to hold onto. I wish I could meet Dew over coffee.
Possible Solutions
I could tell on myself, which I’m essentially doing by writing this piece. Bare my shame about wasting time on line, about not being as “disciplined” as I once was. Not willing to give up internet and TV for five hours no less a full day.
I could give myself a break. Hey, you’ve paid your dues. So what if you don’t want to to give up TV for 24-hours. Aren’t you entitled to relax at this point in your life?
I could become proactive. This is what I’d tell someone else: If you’re not happy, do something about it. Try something different, instead of complaining.
I could make a commitment. No, it doesn’t have to be today, but I could use my upcoming transition to Paris as a fresh start. Designate a 24-hour-period, starting — say, October 11 — where I will promise to honor a 24-hour curfew.
I could ask for help. Please, if you who are reading this now are also struggling with a similar problem — too much freedom, too little discipline, paralyzed because you’re too afraid to try something different — let me know. Maybe we can do this together.
I could suggest that we declare October 11 Curfew Day. Writers everywhere, let’s try this together. Let’s tell each other what happens.
Personally, the idea terrifies me. I’m willing to try if you are….
If you like what you’ve read, by all means:
- Subscribe to my blog. (I won’t charge you or share your email)
- Follow me on social media via LinkTree
- Subscribe to Medium using this link, and I will earn half of your membership fee: $5/month, or $50/year — a small price to pay to support a favorite writer and unlimited access to a world of great thinking and writing.