Well, no, not from where I sit (typing this instead of writing). I dislike the business of putting the words on the page intensely. I dislike revising. I really hate rewriting and trying to get it just so is misery. I dislike procrastinating because I feel guilty that I’m not writing, and I dislike writing because I feel cross that I’m not having fun procrastinating. The whole thing is not very nice.
Yet that’s how I’ve earned my daily bread for far too many years to count. So I suppose I am a writer and I have lasted long in the role. Why? Lord knows. If I had my time again I’d do something where all I had to deliver was myself. Demagogue, perhaps. Psychopomp. Conductor. Queen. Something where it was enough to think it and say it without having to write it all bloody DOWN.
The two things I can remember being in the way, (a) playing with the kids, and (b) dinner dates out with the wife, are both things that occur in the evening. So let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that all the things that might get in the way of your writing happen then, whatever they are.
If that’s the case, here’s the obvious solution. Realize that what is holding you back is the lack of personal time, time that you can claim as your own. If so, then the question becomes “how do I create some personal time in which to write?” The answer?
Give up an hour of sleep and get up an hour earlier. That’s your hour to write.
My sister did this for seven years (sometimes getting up three, yes, three hours early before she went to teach her elementary school kids) and worked on her dissertation. And she succeeded. She now has her PhD. And I am extremely proud of her. So I can say from personal observation, if not participation, that this strategy works.
Or, alternatively, stay up an hour later. DH is a morning person. I am a night person. Getting up early would never work, because I’d wake him up and he’d be ready for launch before I’d finished my tea. But staying up a little later works great.
I read a book of writing advice in which the author related her experience with a class full of extremely busy mothers. They all worked, sometimes several jobs, and they all had kids, and they were at first resentful when she insisted they find time to write. But they did it: dictated notes while driving, scribbled in notebooks on the subway or while waiting for kids… lots of different solutions, but there’s always time if finding it matters enough.
William Carlos Williams wrote some of America’s greatest poetry on prescription pads between appointments. (He was a pediatrician.)
More likely that I’m a bad (or at least atypical) writer than the analogy that’s bad. But as has been said, when (very rarely) it comes singing onto the page, yes, that’s a hell of a good feeling.
I understand where you are coming from. Sometimes I think my drive to write comes as much from just how much I hate to see bad writing as it does from the joys of creating something great.
EDIT: Quite why “Flowers For Algernon” is my favourite book is, therefore, completely beyond me.
It’s awesome what you’re sister did. How old were her kids? Mine are 15 months (twins) and keep us awake most of the night… and wake us up at 6! I suppose we get between 4-6 hours per night. Did your sister subsist on something like that for those seven years? I am afraid that sleeping any less than that for too long will impact my employment status…
But maybe these obstacles are trivial and it can be done. I would like to understand what your sister did and see if I can do something similar.
An update: Two weeks ago, I buckled down and created a Ulysses Contract with myself that would be enforced by my wife. So far so good: +3000 words over the last 14 days. Progress feels good.
Really interesting to see this topic pop up on old Literature and Latte. I’ve both worked with writing coaches on my own projects and acted in a writing coaching capacity myself – and I agree with the above posters that writing coaching is an extremely useful tool for people who have exhausted other options available to them.
Reddit has created lots of opportunities for free education and community, such as /r/BetaReaders and /r/PubTips, which cover many different aspects of the writing process. As always, there are an infinite number of free tools available for writers who want to flex a little bit and do the work themselves. But writing coaching is for people who don’t want to dig too much before receiving 1:1 feedback, and, indeed, for those who want to pay to fast-track their progress. That’s not everybody, but for people with disposable income and an idea burning a hole in their brains, it can produce a favorable outcome.
And ya, most writing coaches I know end up hiring writing coaches themselves XD
I’ll tell him to go back to the drawing board, and try again.