Writing Twenty Novels (in 10 easy steps!)
During a recent telephone conversation, I mentioned having sent
off the last revisions for my twentieth novel, "Great Sky
Woman." There was a silence on the other side of the phone,
followed by the question "How in the world do you do that?
Twenty novels!"
The truth is that I know many writers who have written far more
than twenty novels. It is not that unusual. In fact, if you are
a working writer, the "perfect" output is very close to a book a
year. Less often than this, and the readers stop anticipating
your next book, and wander to another writer's literary pasture.
There is a commonality to the behavior patterns of successful
writers, and a commonality to the behavior patterns of writers
who just can't get started, can't get finished, or stall out at
their first or third book.
Successful, prolific writers:
1) Write every day. That's EVERY day. They sit down, open their
veins, and bleed into their computers. Yes, it can be painful,
but if you don't maintain this kind of regularity, rust creeps
in. The connection between heart, mind and fingers is broken.
And we mistake the struggle for our natural state.
2) Read every day. Reading is priming the pump. It is modeling
successful behavior. It is increasing vocabulary, studying plot
and characterization, and entertaining the little subconscious
demons and angels who actually do the deep work. Never neglect
this.
3) Set deadlines and quotas. There is a certain amount of work
to be done, on a daily basis. It need not be some huge amount--a
page a day will create a book a year!
4) Create a writing space, a place that feels comfortable to
them. This is both a physical space (a desk) and a psychological
space (created with music, posters, familiar objects, etc.) It
may also be a temporal space--a specific time of day or night
that they write.
5) Have specific goals. They have committed to being
professional writers. This is how they define themselves, and
they never forget it. If you accept this definition, then you
MUST behave as a professional writer, on a daily basis, or it
causes emotional discomfort. They are willing to accept this
friendly prod.
6) Don't listen to the negative voices in their heads. Everyone
has them. The voices tell you you can't, you mustn't, it isn't
good enough. You must find a way to tell the voices to shut up,
to ignore them, or to quiet them. Any flow-based activity will
help here: meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, running, Sufi breathing
exercises, martial arts...the list is endless. Find one.
7) Are committed to the long-term. They know that if they spend
an hour or three a day, every day, for a decade, they will build
their career.
8) Expose themselves to criticism and rejection. In other words,
they FINISH their projects, and then SUBMIT those finished
projects to editors and agents.
9) Involve other people in their "master mind" group. Successful
writers know other writers. And readers. And editors. And
agents. They befriend them, recruit them, get feedback from
them, and listen to the feedback. This is their "brain trust."
Unsuccessful writers hide in their offices, never finish their
work, never send it out to risk rejection.
10) Have W.I.T.---they will do Whatever It Takes to ethically
reach their dreams, to become the best they can be. They never
quit. They know that success is based less on talent or "who you
know" than persistence, hard work, and honesty.
There are more distinctions, but I'm out of time--got to start
working on book twenty-one!