Write, write, write

There was a time (not that long ago) when I made an effort to read as much as I could about what writers had to say on writing. How to do it, what the purpose of writing is and should be, what makes a book good or bad or mediocre. 

There was no shortage of letters and books and lists to read. 

To name the ones that come to mind: Stephen King, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Orwell, Kerouac, Sherwood Anderson, Elmore Leonard, Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, Kurt Vonnegut, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, Henry Miller, E.B. White. I read their routines (did they take breaks? When did they wake up?). Their ten commandments of writing. Their advice for young writers. Their pet peeves and their favourite books. Their inner struggles and what they thought of how others wrote. 

They all seemed to agree on only one thing: if you want to be a writer—a good one—you must write a lot. Reading a lot helps, too. 

When you should write, where you should write, for how long, drunk or sober, by computer or by hand, about life or death or love, in bursts or all day—there was a bit of overlap, but no agreement. 

There, I have saved you the trouble. 

I am glad I read all of those people and their thoughts because I learned from them (when don’t you learn from reading?). But I have no desire to read writing about writing. There are simply too many books I would much rather read; things that aren’t so obvious.

I say obvious because writing is not much more complicated than this: 

Sit down (or stand up) and write what is in your head. This means re-writing, also. 

Read a lot, too. 

The rest you will get better at or you will figure out. 

That is all, and that is everything.

No resolutions. No routines or gimmicks. If you want to write, you will. You will find time, and eventually you will find your voice, too. You won't be good at first (duh). Eventually you will be. Some people write really well. Others do it even better. The amount of money you make is not a reflection of how well you write (duh). The rest is a matter of opinion. I think over-writing is lazy, boring, and self-indulgent. Plenty of people love the books I hate. They are not wrong; they are just not me. 

For god’s sake, just commit and write and eventually you will be worth reading.