I actually had a bookstore refuse to carry one of my books because it was a satirical farce that had angels in it. Now I know that book store owners are generally very liberal left in their thinking and may be anti-religion, but I found it surprising that they wouldn’t carry a book that buyers might want. I have no problem with the concept that it’s a free society and that they can refuse to sell whatever they want to, but in a way, it is a subtle form of censorship. It would be a shame if other institutions did the same thing with their biases like in libraries or internet providers of reading material. I wonder how many do already? Writing a blog is an interesting part of communication. What to write about is always the issue. Do those who follow blogs want to know about what the writer does in their personal life? Or do they want to know more so the things that relate to what the writer does in writing. We tend to write a lot about writing on ours, so I guess we are biased toward that type of blog. I could tell you what I had for breakfast or where I went for a hike, and sometimes I do include those kinds of thoughts, but mostly I lean toward writing issues. So, today won’t be any different... I want to talk about getting something written and having a product to put out there for readers. I’ve spent a lot of years in writing groups in various places I’ve lived, and one thing that is always common to those groups is that they are filled with people who write but never finish anything. I remember one guy who for ten years said he was working on his memoir. He never finished anything, and I began to wonder if it was basically a diary that would be complete and only released upon his death.
The essence of being a writer is having a final product to release! That requires a certain amount of habit formation and diligence in writing. That seems to be the typical shortcoming I’ve seen in those who don’t finish writing something. Some of the best advice I ever got was from New York Times Bestselling author Chuck Greaves who once told me, “you need to touch the ball every day.” Using a sports analogy was helpful. Nobody ever gets good at a sport they don’t practice every day, and nobody finishes a book by writing only when the mood strikes. So, how do you do that? For me, I’ve conditioned myself to write about three hours every day. I’ve found a place and time of day that is most conducive to that. My amount of time and the location may well not be right for someone else, but finding it is critical. John Kellerman did it at four in the morning in his attic. I don’t recommend that to you, but I bet you can find a place that’s conducive. I read a book once about finishing a book in 15 minutes a day. I’m not sure that would work for me, but the idea of an amount of time and a location was spot on in that author’s book. I have no doubt that a full novel can be produced in less than a year by someone writing an hour a day. You say, “how can that work? I need to be inspired and have an idea of what I need to say.” Not so! Sit down every day and the page will tell you what to write. If it doesn’t, I usually go back and edit the previous few chapters and inevitably when I get to the blank page I have come up with something to write forward on it. So, if you like to write, give what I’ve said here some thought. You might find it very helpful.
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Greg
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