Some Quality Writing Time
I'm going to devote today, I've decided, entirely to working on Glistening Edges and Right Angles. With any luck, I can get a thousand, maybe even two thousand words. Actually, I can't even remember the last time I spent more than two consecutive hours writing - it was probably back in high school.
This eventually started me thinking about something an old writer acquaintance (we were barely acquainted, really - I knew him through an online writer's group) of mine once said. He was primarily a science fiction writer, but his best-selling piece was erotica. Anyhow, he once remarked to the group that if you didn't write for eight hours a day, you weren't a real writer at all.
At sixteen, I half-believed him, but it still seemed something of an outrageous idea. Now, I'm trying to figure what he must have been on to believe something so ridiculous. Most writers out there have day jobs, so they can't write for eight hours a day (unless they have no family, no social life, and no desire to do anything but work, write and sleep).
However, here's another piece of advice I've been given: Writers write. It seems obvious, but I've come across a number of people who call themselves writers, but never seem to produce anything, instead choosing to read books on writing and participate in writer's discussion groups.
It seems to me, then, that there is some dividing line between writers and people who are just calling themselves writers. I mean, if you say you're a writer, but only have one short story to show for five years of work, you're not a writer, you're just someone who wrote something once.
So, where is this dividing line? Thoughts, anyone?
This eventually started me thinking about something an old writer acquaintance (we were barely acquainted, really - I knew him through an online writer's group) of mine once said. He was primarily a science fiction writer, but his best-selling piece was erotica. Anyhow, he once remarked to the group that if you didn't write for eight hours a day, you weren't a real writer at all.
At sixteen, I half-believed him, but it still seemed something of an outrageous idea. Now, I'm trying to figure what he must have been on to believe something so ridiculous. Most writers out there have day jobs, so they can't write for eight hours a day (unless they have no family, no social life, and no desire to do anything but work, write and sleep).
However, here's another piece of advice I've been given: Writers write. It seems obvious, but I've come across a number of people who call themselves writers, but never seem to produce anything, instead choosing to read books on writing and participate in writer's discussion groups.
It seems to me, then, that there is some dividing line between writers and people who are just calling themselves writers. I mean, if you say you're a writer, but only have one short story to show for five years of work, you're not a writer, you're just someone who wrote something once.
So, where is this dividing line? Thoughts, anyone?
1 Comments:
You're on to part of it when you say writers write. Writers also read, talk to other writers, and revise. Writers know that writing is not just speech put on paper. They also know that what's on paper is not them. They know how to make a personal investment and then detach while others tell them what doesn't work for the reader. Writers care about structer as well as expression.
"There's a few thoughts to get you started," she said with a Cheshire cat grin.
me-Liz
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