Slogging Through

I'm about to tell you something that will blow your mind. It's a truism that runs counter to instinct. Ready? Are you sure? Braced? Are you sitting down?

Writing a whole entire book takes dedication.

Oh my god, right? You're totally blown away, yeah? Okay, I'm being a bit of a sarcastic brat right now, but there are days when it is really freaking hard not to scream hysterically and then curl up in the fetal position when I'm having the "yes, I'm a writer" conversation and the friend/acquaintance/stranger says to me "I could write a book."

Yep. You could. But you know what? You haven't. And I bet I can tell you why. You either lack the drive or the discipline. Or both. Ideas are great. Ideas are necessary. Books, however, are more than ideas.

I absolutely adore Pride and Prejudice. There is this fabulous line (dozens of fabulous lines, actually, but this one in particular) when Lady Catherine says, "If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient."

Lady Catherine is talking about music, but the sentiment can be easily paraphrased as "If I ever bothered to write my masterpiece, I would be a best-seller with a Pulitzer in one pocket and Nobel Prize for Literature in the other."

The thing is, that might be absolutely true. You might be the Mozart of the written word. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't. If you tell me you have a genius idea, I believe you. So instead of screaming and curling, when people say this to me (and people have said things eerily close to that exact sentence), I say, "Writing takes discipline."

I had a conversation along these lines last week with a fellow guest at the wedding festivities. It went something like this:

Him: How long did you write before you were published? (Translation: It's really not as hard as everyone says it is, is it?)

Me: I wrote for fifteen years, but I was only seriously submitting with the intention of becoming a published author for about two.

Him: Does it take you a long time to write a book? (Translation: It's really not as hard as everyone says it is, is it?)

Me: It varies a lot depending on the book.

Him: Oh... because I've sometimes thought I could write a book. (Ahh, now we're getting to the point.)

Me: It takes a lot of discipline and dedication.

Him: Do you write at the same time every day? (Translation: Set schedule = dedication.)

Me: Nope.

Him: More when the muse strikes you, then. I get that. (Translation: Excellent! I can write a book whenever I feel like it and become a published author!)

Me: Nope.

Then his girlfriend interrupted us. But I've been thinking about that conversation ever since. The assumption that my comment about dedication meant scheduling has been tweaking at my brain. And the idea that the only alternative to a fixed schedule was the muse seemed like a total cop out.

Here's the thing: Discipline is about personality, not scheduling. The discipline of being a writer is doing it when it sucks and when it rocks your socks off. The discipline of being a writer is writing all the way through to The End, pushing through insecurity and overconfidence, mania and doubt. And then starting all over again with revisions, the next book, etc.

Writing isn't always a magical flow of words from the Muses. Yeah, sometimes it is. But if I only wrote when "the muse" struck me, I would never have a whole book. I would have brilliant little bits and pieces that never added up to a complete anything. The Muse can be a real bitch and she doesn't really like writing certain parts of the book - like the tying-up-all-the-loose-ends parts.

I don't write at the same time every day, but I have deadlines. I have goals and I bust my butt to meet them - even if the only person I'm accountable to is myself. That self-motivation is no easy skill to pick up. How many people would spend an afternoon strolling along the procrastinatory pathways of the internet or playing solitaire if their boss was out of the office and there was no one holding them accountable for their productivity? That is why I say dedication is a mindset. There is no boss to keep you in line. You gotta want it badly enough that you keep yourself on track - even as the temptation of a new (better!) story pops up in your brain. Even when it isn't fun and bright and easy. Dedication is slogging through.

You think you could right a book? You're right. You can. Will you? That's between you and your mental whipwielder.

(And if you need help wielding the whip, might I suggest National Novel Writing Month? Here's an interesting blog about NaNo pep talks and the elusive muse.)