Part 2 from Coaxing the Muse: Thoughts on the Creative Process
a talk given by Lance Larson, May 22, 2007.
Strategy 2: Write everyday. And if not every day, as regularly as possible. One can find accomplished writers who are “binge writers” – those who write in “fits and bursts,” but they are rare. In his experience, the most successful writers have consistent work habits.
Picasso said, “I don’t know if inspiration exists, but when it comes, it usually finds me working.”
He shared with us the writing schedule of several famous writers – exactly 2000 words before lunch, 8 hours a day, 3 hours a morning, 90 minutes…. The Facility Center on BYU campus encourages 15 minutes a day. More time is encouraged, but 15 minutes will do. That's 75 minutes a week.
He’s found 4 benefits to writing every day:
1) he ends up spending more time writing – he estimates 2 – 3 times as much as before.
2) he spends more quality time, particularly if it is first thing in the morning.
Goethe said, “Use the day before the day. Early morning hours have gold in their mouth.”
3) he stays engaged in a project, more alive to its potential.
“Skip one day, I know it. Skip two days, the work knows it. Skip three, the reader knows it.” (Anon.)
4) he relishes writing time more than ever. It seems like a gift, not an obligation. Like “an ax to the frozen sea within" me (Kafka)
Everyday, he writes from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. Anything more than that is pure gravy. He still feels a bit embarrassingly inefficient – one who starts eleven poems, finishes 3-4, publishes 2. As Samuel Beckett said: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Tomorrow, Strategy Three!
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