Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write. Finish. Repeat.

It's the most simple writing advice you'll find, and perhaps the most profound. It changed my course as a writer, and it just might change my course in life.

Here's what I mean. A common theme of this blog is momentum. You discover the end of your story by writing continually until it's finished. Work ethic beats inspiration nearly every time. Keep moving forward. I blog about that idea frequently, and to a lesser extent, I practice it in my own writing. Because, "life."

Life gets in the way of everything, including living your life. You name it, the issues are there. Drowning in the massive amounts of hours worked. Fighting a lingering illness, and the illness cheats. Reeling from an unexpected loss. Finally, FINALLY, breaking down and buying that 6th book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy and discovering you were right- it's nowhere near as good as the stuff written by Douglas Adams.

All that can get in the way. If you're not careful, it can get in the way of far more than just writing.

It occurred to me this weekend that life is as much about momentum as writing.

Write, finish, repeat? Yes. Apply the same principles to life and what do you get?

Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write/Live
Repeatedly, Neil Gaiman has told aspiring writers, "You must write." Too many get this part wrong. I've even had people argue with me over this point. The truth is, if you never write, you never write.

And if you don't live, well that's even worse, isn't it? Admittedly, "live" has several connotations. Here's what I mean by it.

Live to the max each day. This is not simply about enjoying life. It means making positive steps in your life. What's important to you in your life? Writing, family, friends, Doctor Who, church, health? Make sure you're making a positive step in one of those areas, minimum, each day. Most days you'll be able to make positive steps in multiple areas. And you know what you're doing? Living.

Finish/Achieve
Neil also said, "You must finish what you write." This, more than anything changed the way I looked at my craft. I finished lots of stories, and I got better with each one. Hmm. In retrospect, I've kind of moved away from finishing everything I start to write. Guess what the end result has been? I haven't written nearly as many stories since I stopped focusing on that. That's a good reminder.

In life, focusing on achieving has the same effect. Take health. I've written about fitness a few times here, because it's one of those areas I had to focus on. Doctor's orders. And you know what I couldn't do? I couldn't do it all at once.

So, I focused on daily achievements. Regular workouts. Reducing sugar intake. Blah, blah, blah. Once I finally accepted the need, I had mini achievements each day. So far they've added up to 40 pounds of weight loss, with adding muscle definition.

Repeat
It's so easy to just give up. This can come after a great accomplishment, or a painful setback. Both circumstances can make a person sit back- the former to enjoy and the latter to wallow.

But you know what? If we focus on moving forward in life, becoming better at what we do and who we are, we'll achieve far more.

Writing's worth it. So is living.

The Danger of My Obsession

You know the one thing I love more than writing fiction? Well, truth be told, there's more than one. But do you know the particular thing I'm thinking about right now, that I love more than writing fiction?

No you don't. Otherwise, you'd probably be reading something else about now.

Even more than writing, I love thinking about writing. Like several writers with a day job, I imagine what it will be like to have writing be the only work, but that's not what I mean.

I love thinking about the craft.  You know, imagining the characters I want to create, the feelings I want to bring out, the types of stories I want to tell.

Used to be I'd by every Writer's Digest magazine when it came out, along with the occasional Writer Magazine based on the content. And I'd devour them, learning more and more along the way.

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's trivial geek references.  If there's two things I'm good at, you can add obsessing about interests to the list.  Somewhere on the list, if you add enough things that I'm good at, you get to writing.

I adore it. Which means I obsess about it. And there's the danger.

All the things listed that I enjoy doing, from reading the magazines to daydreaming about the craft, they're all good things. The catch is, when I'm thinking about writing, it feels like I'm actually going through the process.  But if all I'm doing is thinking, reading, or talking about it, then no new words actually make it to the page.

Every single day, I have to remind myself to sit down in the seat and do the real work.  This is true whether it's the day after writing 2000 words, or a week after writing 100.

Obsessing about the craft will ultimately benefit me, but only if I turn it into the right kind of action.  Otherwise it becomes a hindrance and a danger to the writing.

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

(That last line was one of those geeky references I mentioned. Just so you know that I know that I didn't come up with the line.)

You're Probably Not a Writer

It started with a question on Brian Michael Bendis' tumblr:

The question?  "What advice do you have for someone who has had writer's block for the past 6 or 7 years?"

Think about that for a minute.  Seriously.  Assuming you're not Douglas Adams (and it's safe to assume you're not) then is it possible to be a writer and have writer's block for that long?

Bendis didn't think so.  He said, "this will sound harsh but you're probably not a writer.  writers write every day.  it's ok, not everyone is."  He went on to tell the poster that if he considered himself a writer, he needed to "get back to work!!"  He told him to write.  Fantastic advice.

It's just that easy.  And just that hard.

And tumblr blew up.

See for yourself:
http://brianmichaelbendis.tumblr.com/post/70724241561/what-advice-do-you-have-for-someone-that-has-had

I've been searching for the response that caught my attention and squeezed all the juice out of it.  I finally found a copy of the post at
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/12/23/writer-says-you-have-to-write-to-be-a-writer-tumblr-gets-upset

I wish I could attribute the writer, but I can't find the comment.  It's scary:

"Haven’t written in a year because I work 12s (during which I brainstorm) for 14 days shifts, and have two kids. But I can’t keep a schedule of writing up, and my brain is literally too exhausted to think at the end of my work day, and I’m chasing two kids during my two weeks off, have a house to maintain, and am trying to recover from my schedule.

But make no mistake. I don’t write it on paper or in a word processor every day, but I have whole finished stories written in my head."

Wow.  It's like looking into a cracked mirror where my head points inward on itself.  So many would be writers think like this.  I know that I used to, before I decided to take responsibility for my own success.

Like this response, I had so many great and wonderful stories in my head.  You know where they weren't?  On bookshelves.  Or on the computer.  Or an paper.  Because I wasn't writing, the stories didn't really exist.  And when I finally, FINALLY took the time to write stories, I discovered something.  First, I discovered how difficult it is to take something from the murky depths of a mind and have it resemble the same idea once it's on paper.

Because writing is craft.  I wish I'd asked a similar question and gotten an answer like this years ago.  Maybe I'd have realized, it's ridiculous to claim to be a writer when I don't write.

A few years ago I could have used Bendis' advice.  Or even, Ellis' harsher advice at http://warrenellis.tumblr.com/post/70741678830/what-advice-do-you-have-for-someone-that-has-had

Don't Panic!

I started reading Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman recently and it is a huge relief.  More on that later.

First off, how amazing is it to read a book by one of my favorite authors, about one of my favorite authors?  When I discovered this book existed I felt like I'd drunk a pan galactic gargle blaster.

There are few books I've read more times than all five books of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.  Yes, even "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."  These were the first books that made me want to write.  Douglas Adams made it look so easy, which is ironic in the extreme considering all the stories about his struggles with writer's block and deadlines.

Years ago I felt stunned to discover the books were based off of a television series.  I was more stunned to learn that the tv series was based off of a radio series.  This became my secret shame.

How could I, self professed mega fan, not like the tv series?  I just... didn't.  And if the tv series was that bad, how good could the radio show really be?  (For that matter, how big of a fan was I when I didn't know anything about Adams' involvement with Dr. Who, even brief as it was?)

And in the book, I've learned that Douglas Adams' involvement with the television series was limited.  Oh he was involved, but it wasn't quite his vision was it?

Even better.  I decided to listen to the radio broadcasts.  I'm only up to the Vogan ship scene in the first episode so far, but it is brilliant.  It's like the book only not.

Of course I shouldn't have panicked.  

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Don't+Panic/