“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
—Stephen King
I worked hard at writing this week.
No, seriously, I did.
I know most weeks you think I’m working hard at rehearsing for or attending shows. That is often true.
And actually this week I had one performance of a show, one rehearsal for the show I’m co-producing, rehearsal for choir, saw one show last Sunday, one last night, and I’ll see another tonight (for the second time).
I also finished reading a script for an upcoming show and decided I’m not auditioning. You don’t really need to know why. Maybe I’ll put it in the book.
I was even pretty darned efficient at the office.
I’m not bragging. I’m sure if the neighbors are reading this they’re shaking their fists at the screen and yelling “Hey! Have you seen your yard?”
The point of all of this is that I had a very busy week, but I made time to write.
Along the way I wrote an article and a press release for a client, wrote five blog posts, managed to do a significant amount of work on the novel. And in the meantime, I got an idea for a new script and even did a little research for that.
I do that because I’m a writer.
Sounds amazingly simple, doesn’t it? It’s not.
I know enough to know that I’ll never write a word if I sit around waiting for the inspiration to hit. Sometimes writing is perspiration.
I’ll never write a word waiting for the ideal situation or circumstance.
Jack London said:
“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.”
If I’m going to be serious about writing, I have to put one word in front of the other. Sometimes I’ll even get them in the right order.
You know:
Monkeys. Typewriters. Shakespeare.
My writing time this weekend will again be limited. But I’ll carve out some time.
Perhaps tomorrow afternoon after the 10K. Assuming I can still lift my hands to the keyboard.
Thank you, by the way, to those who sponsored me. I exceeded my goal. More personal thank yous are coming.
I did work hard at writing this week. Some of it for pay. Most of it for experience and exposure.
Or, hopefully, future payouts.
The important thing is I didn’t let being busy get in the way of things I know I should be doing.
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