Writing is hard.
Putting words down on paper or a screen is easy. If that’s all writing was, then the Man Booker Prize would go to some lorem ipsum every year. Putting them together in a way that’s both skilled and engaging is hard. Some of us never feel as though we’ve managed to get it right. Hitting ‘Publish’ on this post will probably be a matter of being ‘done’ rather than ‘finishing’ the musings here.
From the ShoeBoxBlog.com
Writing takes time. Carving out that time to write is probably one of the biggest challenges one faces between being a dedicated amateur and a pro. We all work for a living in one way or another. Then there’s all the wonderful media out there in the world. Work, bills, TV, eat, read a book, sleep, repeat. Before you know it, it’s Christmas and you start wondering what you’ve done with your year. As John Lennon once said “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”
(Of course, because I’m distracted enough to go down the clickhole of the Internet, I also know that phrase first appeared in a 1957 Readers Digest article attributed to Allen Saunders. Fun fact: Allen Saunders created the influential Mary Worth comic strip. See how easy it is to get distracted?)
So while it’s rapidly veering in that direction, this is not a woe is me piece. Instead, this is a remind to myself as much as it is to readers that writing, if it’s something you love to do, can’t be taken away from you even if life has a habit of getting in the way.
I recently got into a conversation on Twitter about trying to keep oneself motivated against a tide of self-doubt. Is my writing any good if it doesn’t get web hits or social likes? Maybe or maybe not. Yet it also got me thinking about a book I’d read recently: Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.
After sitting on my shelf for a year (see: distractions), I finally gave it a read one Saturday. It’s sometimes repetitive and simplistic, but there was one really strong point I kept coming back to:
Our values determine the metrics by which we measure ourselves and everyone else…If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success. – Mark Mason
In my example above, the conversation was about measuring ourselves against hits, clicks and likes. If that’s your goal, there’s strategies to go about improving all of those things. Yet the deeper question was about that deep-seated self-doubt of “Am I any good?” The trick I’ve tried is to try and either dull that voice or use it improve. What you mean by improvement, or how you even define “good,” is up to you. Pursuing likes and writing are separate things, but one can often be a means to an end. Just choose the one that’s important and realistic to you for the right reasons.
So where is this all going? I’ve recently had to reassess what my own metrics and goals are. Last year, I published my first book. It was never destined to be a bestseller, but I’m proud as punch that it’s out there. People have found it, it’s got almost universally positive reviews so far, and I’m working on something else with that publisher. Is it perfect? Of course not. I find something I’d change every time I pick it up. Nevertheless: it’s done. By the metric of ‘write a book about Green Arrow and publish it,’ I’ve met my scorecard measure.
Lately I’ve been finding it hard to write. Not just books but reviews and articles too. My output for The Reel Bits and Newsarama has started to look a little anaemic in comparison to previous years. I’m consuming lots of media: hundreds of films, scores of TV shows, over a 100 books so far this year. I’ve got at least half a dozen projects on the boil, but starting them/finishing them is a challenge. I’ve doubted the quality of everything and have been pretty hard on myself. Should I just give up this malarky and focus on earning money? (It turns out buying an apartment and moving twice saps a lot of your mental and creative energy!)
Then my partner found this video and sent it to me. (It’s 10 minutes but I encourage you to watch it all. Totally worth it).
Wow. Terrific, isn’t it? I’d never heard the work/life/career/vocation balance summed up better. Elizabeth Gilbert is absolutely right:
“I had a commitment to my vocation that said I will do this for as long as I breathe regardless of whether anything ever comes of it.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
I am lucky enough to have a day job that pays the mortgage bills, keeps me in LEGO and beer, and I don’t have to take home with me at the end of the day. So I have the mental space and the time to write.
So here’s my challenge to myself and to any other frustrated writers out there: let’s just keep writing. This ‘Bits and Pieces’ column is something that I’m going to keep doing as often as I feel it just to keep myself in the habit. I have a number of other things on the boil that future columns will reflect on as well:
- I’m editing a volume of essays on one of my favourite film series of all time. I’m also contributing a couple of pieces to it. The chance to collaborate with some terrific writers who share a common passion is so invigorating. Can’t wait to share this one.
- I’ve put my hand up to contribute to another book about a Popular Comic Book Character.
- My next solo book will be about the relationship between the reader and comics, multiverses, fan entitlement and the death of comics. You know, something small in scope.
November is #NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month), a challenge to write a novel in a month. You may not want to be as strict as that, but you can set yourself some goals too. My goal is to get the first chapter of my new book done and drafted by the start of December. Sounds like a reasonable metric, doesn’t it?
