GOOD START | 2006-06-20
PG Wodehouse, the humor writer, was asked how he wrote. Wodehouse replied, " I put a blank peice of paper into my typewriter. Then I stare at it until my forehead starts to bleed."
Actually the way I write is to start with an idea and, very often, what I end up with is a digression into an entirely different subject. Then I realize what I am getting at in that digression and rewrite, cut and paste until I have a piece that has not the slightest relationship to what I sat down to write.
There is a lot of truth to what Wodehouse says. If you sit down to write on a blank page, it is like pushing a car. Once you get it going, everything is easier.
So I started the day by reading Steve's blog. He went over my basic concepts and that got his car rolling. You cannot imagine how much WORK went into what he ended up with.
My last two pieces concerned women's fashions. I needed to get started on a new topic. Reading Steve's blog got me started. First I saw great work.
Then I saw how ***I*** could use Steve's method myself. My ideas are so basic that it is almost impossible for you to repeat them without trailing off into something they make you think of. This is true of a restatement of any set of basic ideas, but, of course, I prefer my own.
It is true that writing requires discipline. But if you getting sarted with that blank piece of paper, throw discipline to the winds. A lot of people want to write somethig and get it over with. But if you are a serious writer and thinker, you're going to have to rewrite, cut and paste the whole thing anyway, so let your fingers do the walking.
Digress. Then read your digressions and see what you are trying to say and cut the crap out.
You do not have to PASTE everything you CUT. One thing I learned early as that the most useful end of the pencil.
Here is where the statement, "Writing is WORK" comes into play. You want to get it OVER with. You want to get it all into one piece. You have to get used to the fact that this is not going to happen if you have a really creative mind. Get a subject and ruthlessly chop out the rest. Don't outrun the reader.
So we have just used one old rule: Writing if WORK.
We proceed to the second rule: You are not writing for yourself, you are writing for the READER. Over half of hte people who tell me they are going to write a book say they are going to write an autobiography. They honestly believe that what happened to them will be just as fascinating to everybody else.
Those books never get written.
And Lord be praised for THAT.
You are writing what others will be WILLING to read. You are writing what others will grasp, and no more.
So, get started by restating Bob's ideas until your digression gets going. If you don't use Bob's, use some lesser mortal's like Socrates. Then go with your digression and try out the rules above.
This will make you tired, but at least your forehead doesn't have to bleed.