Lesson 3: 1000 Words a Day

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”  Stephen King

“Write a lot” is the advice of many, if not all, popular writers. Aaron Sorkin is among them in an interview in this month’s The Writer magazine. In On Writing Stephen King asks, “How much writing constitutes a lot?” Ten pages, or 2000 words a day, are his target. That seems manageable for prolific writers like King, Grisham, or any of the others we have come to count on for brilliant story-telling.

For the rest of us, new to the fiction-writing craft, he suggests 1000 words a day to avoid discouragement, and one day off a week, at least to start. 

Since I began my novel, I’ve managed to put 4500 words on paper, or my computer anyway. I think I’m doing pretty well, but then go to the library and start reading some of Stephen King’s novels off the shelf. Oh man – what an imagination! I get discouraged.

But then Stephen tells me, in his book: “Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad’ is fearful behavior.”

His advice to “read a lot” is much easier behavior, although that can be off-putting as well. Currently I’m reading Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy. I’ve finished Fall of Giants, and am in the midst of World War II in the second book, Winter of the World. No doubt Mr. Follett and his editors are busy polishing up the third entry about the Cold War in Edge of Eternity, due out in 2014. These are enormous tomes with characters and narrative bringing history to life. I’m learning more in this ambitious epic than I ever did in school – about the historical events it depicts and about brilliant narration and dialogue.

So now my door is closed and I’ve shut out the world – or so I’ve tried. Max and Rusty, my cats, don’t cotton to closed doors. They’re scratching and meowing to get in. Okay, okay, I open it a crack for them to enter. Then Tim, not a cat, sees this as an opportunity to come in and talk about frustrations at work. This closed-door thing isn’t working out too well. But soon he will leave and the kitties will sleep for the remainder of the day. No more excuses.

I press on. I have a story to tell and I’m going to tell it fearlessly in my own style. Counting this blog entry as part of my 1000 words would be cheating. Today’s work is cut out for me and it’s time to begin.