Building the first fort at Jamestown, May-June 1607
Source: National Park Service, Jamestown – Sidney King Paintings Gallery
On this date in 1619 the House of Burgesses convened for the first time in Jamestown, Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly continues that legacy today as the “oldest continuous law-making body in the New World.” In case you’re counting, that’s a full two years before the “first” Thanksgiving in that other place.
I digress. Let’s talk about writing.
Roald Dahl said:
The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his
desk at all there is nobody there to scold him.
Ain’t that the truth.
Let’s just say that an episode in a not-to-be-identified place of employment gave me the good swift kick in the behind I needed a couple of weeks ago that propelled me to take this writing gig seriously.
I committed at that point to making this happen. Among the things I committed to doing was to write a minimum of 500 words daily. I’ve done it thus far. Currently those words are the beginning of a framework for a book about how I became a full-time writer.
It’s working. At least the motivation to write 500 words a day. I’ve also found that writing them before I leave for the YMCA or work is a much more efficient process.
So efficient in fact that Sunday morning, before church, I wrote my 500 words and two blog posts for this week.
Oh wait, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. You’re supposed to think that I’m this new, original and brilliant on a daily basis.
Of course I am, but these blog posts are generally written on the weekend. Sometimes current events will modify them. Most often not.
See? You too can be brilliant.
I digress.
Dahl is correct. No one is forcing me to write. Sure, I get deadlines from my editors and those become problematic if I don’t meet them.
But no one is forcing me to write this blog. No one is forcing me to write the 500 words a day.
And, yes, I realize to many 500 words seems a small amount. Work with me. I’m going for consistency first. Then volume.
The truth is, I write a lot more than 500 words a day. Emails. Facebook. Blog posts.
They have apps that count your steps. Maybe I need to invent one that counts keystrokes.
Yeah, there probably is one, but remember this has to work on multiple platforms and across multiple devices.
If you happen to be a developer and take off with my idea, I’ll send you my PayPal address for the royalties.
Where was I?
Oh yeah. Writing.
Writing to me is fun. It’s also work.
I can put gibberish together all day long. Putting together something that’s both readable and interesting is another story.
But that’s why I have to go to my desk, or my coffee shop, every day.
No scolding.