The Professional Writer: Retraining

Hi Folks,

Let’s get right into it. What keyed my own retraining and my desire to share this and the other posts in the Professional Writer series? I recently read Dean Wesley Smith’s very short book, How to Write a Novel in Ten Days. He ghosted a complete 70,000 word novel, under contract, in ten days. He blogged about the experience as he did it, then published those blog posts as the book. And yes, he did a lot of other things (routine life stuff and business stuff) during that same ten days. Visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Smashwords to find the book. I also recommend Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.

The Old Me

Used to, when I had an edit come in, I’d do absolutely nothing else until the edit was completed. By that I mean, I would edit for an hour or so, then go outside and water the yard, then edit for another hour or so, then go to the post office or the store or take care of other chores. The point is, whenever I approached my desk, I would return to the edit. The whole time, I was maintaining that I was a writer. But I wasn’t a writer. I was an author—a guy who had written—and frankly, I was a wannabe, a guy who talked a lot about wanting to write but seldom seemed to get it done.

The New Me

Now I’m a writer again. I’m retraining myself. I’m up most mornings between 3 and 4 a.m. (That isn’t part of the training. It’s just when I rise.) I feed the cats, check their water, fix a mug of Kava, and shuffle into my office. While I’m sipping coffee, I check and respond to emails, then take a few moments to consider what’s on the agenda for the day other than my own writing. What editing or proofreading jobs do I have on hand? Do I need to read contest entries and determine winners? Figuring all of that out and setting up a loose schedule for the day takes anywhere from several minutes to a half-hour, but after that is when the fun begins.

Business concluded for awhile, I swivel my chair to the right, away from my business laptop and my wide-screen editing monitor, and face my writing ‘puter. And I write.

Sometimes I pick up where I left off in an earlier story, and sometimes I begin a new one. Sometimes I have some idea of where it’s going, but more often than not I’m just writing a scene as the characters bring it to me. I’m trusting my subconscious to write the story. (Much more on this in a later post.) About an hour into the process, I generally have 800 to 1,000 polished, publishable words. (Note that this is not a “rough draft.”) Then I break for a few minutes to get a fresh cup of Kava. Then I come back and write some more. Why? Because it feels good. It’s the most fun I’ve had in years. Think about it: my “job” is sitting at a computer, making stuff up. 🙂

When I finish a story or find a good stopping point—usually around 2,000 to 3,000 words—I take a break or maybe take a walk or tend to chores or whatever. When I come back, if my story is pressing, I work on it some more, probably until it’s finished. If it isn’t pressing, I work on Other People’s Writing for awhile.  And when I get finished with or tired of the OPW? I swivel my chair to the right, back to my writing ‘puter.

If you want to see the results of all this retraining, visit Harvey Stanbrough & Friends Writing in Public and sign up for my blog there. You’ll get a freshly minted short story in your email every week. What better way to see whether your writing instructor knows what he’s talking about?

‘Til next time, good writing!

Harvey