I read a fair amount of writing blogs. Blogs on self-publishing. Blogs on productivity. Blogs on the book industry. And sometimes in all the noise I think one essential thing gets lost. When you are a creative of any stripe, be it writer or artist, there is one truth among everything that you do.
You have to take it one day at a time. You have to put your butt in the chair and block out that thirty minutes, that hour, that half a day, however long it will take you to actually get something down on paper (or computer if that’s your thing).
I write about this for me as much as anyone else. I want to remind myself of the goals I’ve set so that I can hold myself accountable when the end of the year comes. I want to know what I need to do, and what I should be doing.
So many times over the years I’ve seen talented people, writers and artists both, say one thing with their voices, but show something entirely different with their actions. They say they want to do X thing for a living, but then don’t want to commit the time necessary to actually accomplish those goals.
And I know, your busy. We are all busy. We spread ourselves thin with work and family commitments and that crazy thing called sleep. People have hour plus commutes, each way, every day. Hey, I’m grateful for my job, but you do get to waste 1-2 hours in your car every day.
Ask yourself what your priorities are. Where did you waste time today? Could you chose to study your craft instead of one of those time sinks. There are so many ways to make sure that you don’t get your work in today.
Hey, I get it. I struggle with it too. Some nights I have to drag myself to the computer, launch Scrivener, and then will myself to do the work. And I am not successful every night. Sometimes I am tired. Sometimes I am not creative or I am stuck on a scene.
And sometimes I just don’t want to do it. I’d rather play Magic Online or watch a movie or even fire up the XBOX and play Madden for a couple of games.
Those things are going to happen.
But…
But… if you are a writer and wrote 250 words a day. That’s effectively 1 page. So if you wrote 1 page a day, then at the end of a year you’d have a book. 365 pages is a solid book. It would probably take you all of 15 minutes to write that 250 words. Heck, you could probably do that while you were sitting at your desk during the day. Or during lunch. Or maybe even construct it in your head as you drive home.
I mean, you want to do this for a living, right? That’s what you said.
1 page a day. That’s all. Much like economics, this stuff compounds with time.
If you are an artist (say for comics)… if you drew one page this week. And then did that for 52 weeks, you’d have 2 comic books in a year. Yes, I understand that it takes longer to draw than write, but 1 page a week. What if I put it another way? What if I said for you to do 1 Panel a day. Most comic pages are 6 panels. That’d give you your page a week. 1 Panel is all it takes.
I mean, you want to do this for a living, right? That’s what you said.
Little things add up to be big things.
I think there are plenty of people out there who want to write a book. A lot of times when I’m talking to people and the fact that I’m also a writer (in addition to being an engineer), most people mention that they’d love to write a book.
They’d love to write A book.
And that’s awesome. Honestly, I think that the more voices that are out there, the better off we all will be. No one has your combination of experiences. No one sees the world like you do. So if you want to give this Word thing a shot – go for it.
But that’s not what I want. I don’t want to write A book.
I want to write 100 books.
And I don’t want just one comic book to come out.
I want to have written a 1000 comics.
That means that I have to squeeze the juice out whenever I can. It means that the tray beside my computer is filled with scraps of paper that I’ve written on during the course of the work day. Bits of dialogue for the project I’m currently working on. The idea for a short story that will get filed away. Even story beats for the next novel I’m going to write.
You have to find that little bit of extra time. Maybe it means you wake up 15 minutes earlier every day (heaven forbid) or maybe you stay up 15 minutes later?
Ask yourself if this is a hobby or if this is a career? Do you want to do this or do you just like saying that you will do it… eventually, you know, down the line. Are you going to look back in a year and think about the wasted time and why didn’t you get started on that novel/comic/painting last year? Last month? Yesterday?
And if you are wanting to do more than 1 thing, you know what happens when you finish that one? You start on the next one.
So what’s the plan? What do you want to be?
Now show me the proof.
***
John McGuire is the author of the supernatural thriller The Dark That Follows, the steampunk comic The Gilded Age, and the novella There’s Something About Mac through the Amazon Kindle Worlds program.
His second novel, Hollow Empire, is now complete. Each episode is only $0.99. But you can go ahead and purchase the full novel (all 6 episodes) right now for $4.99 with the above link!
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com.
Great post John! Sometimes, it comes down to making a decision. If you want something, make it happen. Like you said, it can be a page a day, a panel a day, etc. I’d rather paint than watch hours and hours of tv. So I limit myself. I heard an artist recently say that they had no life in the early days of his career and there are still times where he doesn’t see his friends that often because he’s working toward a deadline. Sometimes, that’s what it takes. If you have a lot of other responsibilities but also a passion you will make the time.
I think the biggest thing is, for me at least, is fighting against it on the days I’m not really feeling it.
And I think self-deadlines are excellent ways to keep an eye on whatever goal I’ve set. I may not always hit them 100%, but they are there, looming.
And sometimes you have to give yourself a break. If you’re exhausted when you sit down to write you may only end up etching out nonsense on the paper. But there are other things you can do to keep the creative juices flowing and stay on target, like research and brainstorming exercises. For me, sticking to a schedule helps me keep going. If I break that rhythm then things get awkward.
Preach Brotha’ McGuire, preach!
I needed to read/ hear/ get smacked upside the head with this.
Thanks.