How Do You Have the Discipline to Write? - by SC Skillman
At a number of my author talks, my audience ask me a few questions; and one that often pops up; 'How do you find the discipline to write?'
Or even, 'Do you have a discipline?'
This is a tricky question and often I find myself tempted to impress them and disappear into the realms of fantasy and say, "Oh, I get up at 4am and write till 8am without interruption, or "I write for four hours non-stop and put warning signs up telling my family Not to Disturb me."
I write on Mondays and Fridays, and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings I work part-time as a church administrator and when I come home I go straight to my laptop and... get distracted by emails, or suddenly realise I need to write a blog post, or... of course, get straight back to the novel, or the current book I'm working on.
However, when it comes to writing discipline, I do believe that if you have a project on foot which you are passionate about, then you will write at every available opportunity.
At the moment I'm working on a project, a book called 'Spirit of Warwickshire.' This describes 12 of Warwickshire's most iconic locations, which I believe have spiritual resonance, and which I've visited many times. I'm weaving into this insights from Shakespeare and have been researching Shakespeare's ghosts and spirits; I've also been out and about interviewing people closely associated with the properties, who have stories to tell. I find this research fascinating and I can't wait to get back to it. Also although this is a non-fiction book, I believe my research will certainly feed into future novels.
But back to writing discipline: I believe that writers have many different methods of working, which can all be equally valid. Certainly, within our own local ACW writers group, we have all agreed that even if you only have twenty minutes to spare you can write something worthwhile which will be of value to whatever longer term projects you're working on. It's important never to discount any time we get, even if it seems too short a time.
And finally, to that rather tired question, "How on earth do you find the time?" the answer can only be, "You will always make time to do the things you want to do."
This is a tricky question and often I find myself tempted to impress them and disappear into the realms of fantasy and say, "Oh, I get up at 4am and write till 8am without interruption, or "I write for four hours non-stop and put warning signs up telling my family Not to Disturb me."
I write on Mondays and Fridays, and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings I work part-time as a church administrator and when I come home I go straight to my laptop and... get distracted by emails, or suddenly realise I need to write a blog post, or... of course, get straight back to the novel, or the current book I'm working on.
However, when it comes to writing discipline, I do believe that if you have a project on foot which you are passionate about, then you will write at every available opportunity.
At the moment I'm working on a project, a book called 'Spirit of Warwickshire.' This describes 12 of Warwickshire's most iconic locations, which I believe have spiritual resonance, and which I've visited many times. I'm weaving into this insights from Shakespeare and have been researching Shakespeare's ghosts and spirits; I've also been out and about interviewing people closely associated with the properties, who have stories to tell. I find this research fascinating and I can't wait to get back to it. Also although this is a non-fiction book, I believe my research will certainly feed into future novels.
But back to writing discipline: I believe that writers have many different methods of working, which can all be equally valid. Certainly, within our own local ACW writers group, we have all agreed that even if you only have twenty minutes to spare you can write something worthwhile which will be of value to whatever longer term projects you're working on. It's important never to discount any time we get, even if it seems too short a time.
And finally, to that rather tired question, "How on earth do you find the time?" the answer can only be, "You will always make time to do the things you want to do."
Thank you for this. Sounds fascinating
ReplyDeleteThank you. This is very encouraging. As I was sorting through notebooks and journals the other day, I found something I’d written that I’d forgotten about, which I now think may become something more. I often find that my daily writings here and there gives me ideas for expanding.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear, BarbieJ. And the key is to keep all those notebooks in such a way that we know what's in them and can refer back to them when we need them. I find that's another challenging element of discipline - organisation of all our writings!
ReplyDeleteSheila, you are quite right to say there are many ways of writing and what suits one may not suit another. In the interests of those who feel unnecessary guilt or feelings of inadequacy because they actually don't write every day, or every week, or every month...don't worry: you probably won't forget how.I write every day - shopping lists, facebook messages, sometimes even notes on research for a WIP; but long weeks can go by without anything more creative. Once the project is well assembled in my own mind, research is kind of done, notes assembled and plot on the wall, then I'll get going and write like a woman possessed. But even then I'll take breaks of various lengths for thinking. To each his or her own, whatever you find helpful is fine, and whatever you don't find helpful discard.
ReplyDeleteI can't actually believe I wrote two full-length books while I was teaching full-time. Now I'm part-time, I do believe I'm less disciplined, and only a deadline will shift me. Eventually ...
ReplyDeleteYour latest book sounds fascinating. How did you come up with the idea for that?
ReplyDeleteMartin,the project arose from a number of blog posts I've written over the years,under the theme of 'Places of Inspiration'.
DeleteMartin,this book has arisen from a number of blog posts I've written over the past few years under the title 'Places of Inspiration'.
ReplyDelete