When I first started writing way back in the dark ages, even before the internet was dial-up…What’s dial-up, you ask? For readers who aren’t familiar with the term, back in the late nineties when you connected to the internet, first you heard a dial tone, then a series of screeching, beeps, and static as the modem connected to the ISP that might go on forever while the user sat there waiting and waiting for everything to connect…
Oh, and this was before Word, so everything was DOS…and even before that, it was an electric typewriter, and before that, a manual one (that’s what I started on), and the only critique groups were—gasp—in person. Only in my corner of the world, there were no critique groups. I wrote and wrote and kept getting rejections because I made the same mistakes over and over because there was no one to tell me what I was doing wrong.
Writing was hard. It took a lot of discipline to show up and keep going.
Let me tell you a little secret. Writing is still hard, even with all the shortcuts and conveniences we have. Need to research gunrunning? Instead of getting in the car and driving to the library and looking through the card catalogue for books or articles on the subject, just put your research question in Giggle, I mean Google, and instantly there are hundreds of articles on gun running at your fingertips. Off you go on a rabbit trail. Not only that, there are a gazillion books on writing.
When I started, I had a handful of books from my local library, and probably the best thing I could’ve had—the Writers Digest Magazine featuring a monthly column by Lawrence Block. Each installment felt like a masterclass in creative writing. Here’s a link to one of his columns—columns he wrote every month for fourteen years–talk about discipline! Later came Nancy Kress and then our own James Scott Bell.
However, books and articles don’t teach discipline, and in MHO, discipline is the difference between wanting to write and actually writing. Here’s my definition of discipline: Showing up and doing the hard work when you don’t feel like it.
I’ve known writers who love to talk about writing and who love to have written, but when it comes to actually sitting behind a computer and actually putting something on paper, they are MIA. Unfortunately, no one can give you the discipline to write. Only you can do that, and if you don’t have a deadline, either from a publisher or a self-imposed one, it’s hard to make yourself sit at the computer and run (or plod) toward the finish line unless you have that drive to create a story and put what’s in your head on paper.
So TKZers, what advice do you have on developing discipline? And if I don’t show up to answer comments, then you’ll know the ice storm brought down the power lines in my area…
Notice: The storm did knock out power to Patricia Bradley’s whole town. She’ll answer comments when she’s able to.
Meanwhile, enjoy her wisdom!
For me, a critique group helped discipline. If I didn’t bring something, I felt as if I hadn’t done my homework. Nobody scolded or made me stay after school but there was still that subtle pressure to be accountable to the group.
I agree about a critique group holding a writer accountable. I was in a wonderful critique group before I was published and four of us are still close.
And thanks for posting the blog! I still don’t have internet but my phone lets me comment.
As I’ve said before, if I wasn’t writing, I’d be expected to clean the toilets. Generate enough income to pay a house cleaner. That’s all the motivation I need.
That’s motivation enough, Terry!
In sports it is called muscle memory. Tiger Woods spent hours on the practice range before he was in high school. Tony Gynn would hit several hundred balls a day in the batting cage. Doing something over and over until your body does it automatically, like sitting and writing for two hours a day. Make it a habit. It works.
I was one of the fastest pizza makers in St. Louis. When I retired from pizza land, I was still the fastest in the area. Someone asked how I got that fast.
“The first 500 are hard.”
Muscle memory. I forgot what it was called but I know it works. When I played basketball I would imagine making a free throw over and over. And the next game I hit almost every shot.
Great post on an important topic. Hope your power returns soon, Pat.
I struggled with discipline for a long time as an aspiring writer. Deadlines and committing to a project and developing habits to not only draft, but edit, elicit feedback from a critique group. developmental editor, or beta readers, and then edit on the feedback developed discipline.
But then there’s the discipline of getting past yourself and your own fears and expectations about external outcomes involving your writing. Making a habit—perhaps meditating for a few minutes, simply engaged in some deep breathing, and then beginning the day’s writing will get you going.
Building a habit, one sentence, one minute at a time.
Hope the power is restored to your area soon, Pat!
It’s so easy to find an excuse *not* to write. From checking email or scrolling through social media, there’s always something out there to pull me away from what I should be doing.
However, when I finally sit down to work on the manuscript, I find myself absorbed in the task. So I guess the hardest part of writing for me is starting to write.
I’ve always written to a quota. I tell new writers not to set unreasonable standards. My advice: figure out how many words you can comfortably do in an average week. Then up that by 10%, a stretch goal. Make that your weekly quota, split into six days, take one day off. If you miss your day’s quota, no problem. Try to make it up on other days. If you don’t make your weekly quota, forget about it. Start fresh. This has worked for me for 30 years.
Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard, headphones on. That normally works for me. Life, however, can get in the way sometimes. I’ve only recently learned to forgive myself for not writing when real-world problems arise. Discipline with getting back on social media after an extended (and delightful!) break is much more difficult these days. I prefer the real world and wildlife and nature and sunsets and sunrises and moon phases and… you get the picture. 🙂
Hope your power gets restored soon, Pat!
With a long-standing chronic illness, the only thing that makes me still me is the ability, on the days the body and mind cooperate for a few hours, to keep working on my mainstream trilogy. In the past quarter century, I wrote and published the first two volumes – every day I can, now, I work on the last one.
It doesn’t seem like much, but every writing day adds to the total of a finished story. I even have people who claim to be waiting for the final part of the story – they keep me going.
I’m SLOW – so what? I have something to show for what remains of a life I was NOT planning to spend this way. The time would have passed either way.
I have a card in a clear holder on my windowsill with my working motto:
“Discipline is the difference between what you want NOW and what you want MOST.” It has been credited to many people, including Lincoln, but I haven’t been able to find a definitive source. No matter. Works for me.