"Not Writing"

Someone recently told me that the best thing writers do is find ways to not write.  It got me thinking about how true that is.

At heart, writers are lazy.  Breaking the inertia in writing is challenging.  Even when we manage to get in a groove, it rarely moves along as quickly for us as we’d like.  Therefore, we find ways to not do it.  And with today’s distractions – social media, video streaming, looking at pictures of cats that look like Santa Claus – it’s easier than ever to not write.

Many may say to me that since I’ve written five books, that must not be true.  After all, most people don’t write even one book, let alone five!  However, that’s non-writers not knowing how quickly one can write a full book if one truly puts effort into it.  To me, a good-sized novel is at least 100,000 words in the first draft.  I’ve done longer – many times – but I shoot for at least that much.  If it’s not 100,000 words on first look, then it’s probably not hefty enough to be a full novel after edits.  Using that end goal, know that I can write 5,000 words a day, at least four days a week, when I get in the groove.  By that standard, I could finish a full novel(prior to edits) in about two months.  Doing that every two months could get me to put out six books a year.  Many can write even faster than that.

Yet notice that I’m not putting out six books a year.  I only recently put out two books in the past year, and one of those just required edits.  So what the hell is going on?

Well, outlining can be exhausting(another blog post altogether).  Aside from my full-time job, I can peruse Facebook or watch clips from Cobra Kai if I’m bored.  I also walk my dog, workout in the gym, and like certain podcasts.  All in all, that’s a lot of “not writing.”