I’ve heard and read a lot of people talk about the best way to develop the writer’s life. There are some basic commonalities between the talks:
- You must write everyday
- You must find a place where you feel comfortable writing
- You must set aside a specific time to write
- You must inform those in your life that this is writing time and don’t allow yourself to be interrupted.
There are more of course, but I am supremely concerned with number three for this post. I recognize that this specific one is a debatable point. A lot of great writers manage to write well without finding a set hour to do so. On the other hand, a lot of great writers do need a set time. Stephen King likes to get in his words before lunch. Others follow suit with the morning ritual and other still speak of the late evening and the witching hour as the best time to write.
I don’t have a specific time and I really don’t think time is the point at all. I think this is more about creating the habit of writing. The Ten Minute Rule is a habit of writing. I do this every day. When I began it used to be at a very specific time because that is what I needed to do in order to ensure that I would write at all. This is not because I don’t love writing. This was more a function of the fact that writing can be really hard to start/fall into especially if you have something you want to write well and are even the slightest bit nervous or concerned about completing; more still if you have nothing to say at all.
My best suggestion to writers is to indeed set a specific time. Not a lot at first. Set a manageable goal and allow that time to be sacred time, i.e. time that kids, work, etc. cannot infringe upon. To that end, I suggest the early morning. I’m writing this before the sun and the kids get up, because I know I’ll have the minutes where nobody is going to get in my way. It also is a way to start the day of right and with creativity. With that I say ‘Right on!’ and my ten minutes is about up.
Some Thoughts:
- Ever notice how fake the political process has become? A dramaturgical analysis of the entire interplay might reveal that these people are acting not as if they are politicians, but as if they are caricatures of political characters played on TV. The synchronous standing and sitting and clapping based on party affiliation is stupid, devise, and rather juvenile. We get it, you’re part of the president’s gang or you are not. How is it you people don’t understand gang violence? I mean you live in in your gilded offices.