I wrote most of an essay, then realized it amounted to five-hundred words on how “writing is hard.” So I scrapped it. This is supposed to be about what I’m doing and how it’s going, and it is hard, and most things are, but you knew that. Everything is hard in sufficient quantity or quality or both. I’m not offering a unique take on the human condition by saying so.
What I’m doing is, working on this project. Projects are hard. They’re bigger. They require more organization and planning than banging out a quick haiku while waiting for the elevator.
Side note: I’ve started a lot of writing projects over the years. Haven’t finished most of them.
But! I’ve been able to do this Tuesday writing thing for two years straight. I haven’t actually added up the total word count of everything, but I’m guessing it’s pretty high. Reasonably high. Maybe not Lord of the Rings, but definitely a few of the longer chapters of The Hobbit.
So I’m asking myself, what’s different? Why did that work? And I came up with this little list.
First: informality. I’m on my phone, sitting on the couch, between other things. Writing in the margins. There’s no ritual to it, no preparation. It’s just counting to three and diving into cold water on two.
Second: procrastination. A little pressure is nice. I don’t like to miss expectations or let people down. Having a deadline gets me moving.
Third, bits. I’m working in tiny chunks. I’m not doing Herculean chapters, I’m doing bullet points and occasional run-on sentences. It adds up.
So what I’m trying to do here is to replicate the process that’s worked for me—which appears to consist of informality, procrastination, and bits—and repeat it.
I don’t know if that’s the Key to Writing or if I should be teaching it in a seminar or whatever because I don’t know if it works yet. But I’ll let you know. There will be signs.
