Are You Writing, Or Talking About Writing?
By J.C. Hutchins | July 22, 2010 |
Oh, we wordherders love to procrastinate. We also love to metaphorically masturbate. We are enamored with conducting “storytelling research” — aka justifying watching hours of TV to see how “the pros” write great dialogue. We lovingly re-read our work-in-progress’ first three chapters again and again, as we’ve done for weeks (or years). We drone on and on and on to our family and friends about the chapters we’ll some day write.
This passivity does a great job of killing time. But it doesn’t make a meaningful contribution to the reason you were put on this planet: to effing write. Writers write. That’s the rule. Buying fancy pens and overpriced Moleskines and sipping lattes at the coffee bar and pontificating about the book du jour — or even worse, The Craft — doesn’t make you a writer. Writing makes you a writer.
It’s time you and me had a talk. No, not you — I’m sure you’re doing fine. I’m talking to the dozens of others reading these words, the people who are quietly and dreadfully nodding right now because I’ve pegged them, called them out for the frauds they are. If you call yourself a writer and are not moving the needle in your work-in-progress, you’re living a lie.
Reading a blog about writing isn’t writing. Posting a comment on said blog isn’t writing. Firing up your word processor and finding the courage to fill that vast, cold, white void is writing. Anything less is masturbation. And the worst part? The rest of us can smell your fraudulence. It’s a special sense we writer-folk have. It comes from Doing The Work. We’re not pretenders, like you. We’re predators, hungry to make a living wage in this preposterous business.
I am fully aware of how harsh I’m being. I am also fully aware that you probably really need to hear this. Since your friends and loved ones aren’t writers … they’re practically morally obligated to listen to your stories about the story you’re not writing … I’ll happily be the dick here. I’ll be the dick because I wish someone was a dick to me 10 years ago when I was flapping my gums about my own work-in-non-progress. I’ll be the dick because you need to know that all that romancing and wooing you’re performing on yourself doesn’t matter. At all. It’s wasted time.
Writers write.
I read a lot of author blogs and Twitter streams, and lurk on several writing community websites. You know what I see? Talk-talk-talk. No more talking, please. We’re back in school now, the clock is ticking, and you’ve got to fill the page on that essay question lest you fail the exam. Put those pencils on the page. Get scribbling. You’ve got so many stories within you. You’re sabotaging your career by gabbing and not writing.
I was recently invited to collaborate with a marketing agency to craft a unique web-based transmedia fiction experience. (There’s a video for this experience at the end of this post. Take a peek and check it out, if you’re intrigued.) Here’s how it went down: I listened to the pitch during my day gig lunch hour, learned that I’d be paid for my work, and said yes. I signed a non-disclosure agreement. When I got home, I didn’t do the Snoopy dance, and I didn’t fret if I “had it within myself” to rise to the challenge. I started writing. Because the clock was ticking, and writers write.
This wasn’t the first fiction work I’ve done under an NDA, and you want to know something? I haven’t told anyone this. Being legally bound to not discuss what I was working on made me at least three times more productive than I often otherwise am with my writing. I couldn’t procrastinate, I couldn’t pontificate, and I couldn’t metaphorically masturbate. No time for love, Dr. Jones. It was all about getting the words on the page.
Not talking meant more writing.
You can do this. You can do this, and you don’t need a high-stakes legal contract as an ass-burning motivator, either. It requires telling yourself to shut up.
And let’s be honest: the reason why you’re babbling and procrastinating is because you’re afraid. You’re scared shitless that you’ll write something stupid, or that the words on the page won’t match the visions in your head, or that people “won’t like” what you craft, or that you were told long ago that you couldn’t write, or that the effort — the heroic effort and courage it takes to get moving on this sucker — will be too great, or … or … and … but …
Shhhh.
Writers write. That’s all there is to it. It’s not easy; nothing worth doing is easy. But it’ll change your frickin’ life, once you make that shift from talking about writing to Doing The Work. The only thing that separates you from me (or anyone else who calls themselves a writer) is that I’m typing and you’re not. That’s it.
You can do this. You can really do this. Less talk. More action. Cool?
Join The Colony from Campfire on Vimeo.
J.C. Hutchins crafts award-winning transmedia narratives, screenplays and novels for companies such as 20th Century Fox, A&E, Cinemax, Discovery, FOX Broadcasting, Infiniti and Macmillan Publishers. His latest creative endeavor is The 33, a monthly episodic ebook series.
Thanks, my rewrite and I needed a kick in the teeth. Not because I’m not working — I went to bed at 2:00 and got up again at 6:00 — but because it’s great to have a reminder that this IS work. And we all need to treat it as work so that we can respect ourselves and what we accomplish. Writing isn’t alchemy. It’s blood, sweat, and hair pulled out. But there’s plenty of room for reading about craft, too. And reading good books. It’s a balance, isn’t it? At the end of the day, what matters is what you put on the page.
Love this post. Throwing it in our Friday round-up of best articles under Inspiration.
Martina
As we sometimes say in the South, “You done stopped preachin’ and gone to meddlin’.” But the message hit home to me, and I suspect it did to others who read WU as well. Now I guess I’d better turn off my email and Internet and write. Thanks for the post.
I am hiding my head in shame at having been caught out. I am so guilty of this. I tweet about writing, i read ‘how to’ blogs, articles, book, etc. about writing, I think about it, dream about it, go to writing group. I produce 1 or 2 short stories a month, if I’ve been good, sometimes nothing. I shall print this out & hang it on my pc.
Most motivating post I’ve read in a while. It really hit me in the gut. I am inspired now and am off to outline one of the three ‘novel’ ideas I have in my head.
Wow, this is a FANTASTIC post. It’s so easy to succumb to that crippling fear and trick yourself into not working, which just feeds the fear more. I know exactly what you’re talking about, and thank you for putting it so eloquently.
Definitely saving this post for later and sharing it, everywhere.
I *did* need this, thanks. No matter how many books about writing I read, I still won’t be a writer until I actually WRITE. Time to get on the ball! :)
Well said.
Love. This. Post. Thank you, J.C. (And great video!)
Oh dear. Guilty as charged on every point. :(
My new mantra: less talk, more writing!
Judy
Wonderful post! I really love it.
I actually had this discussion along those lines with myself a little over 6 months ago. I got really sick of saying I wanted to be a writer and always letting life get in the way of my writing.
So I tricked myself; I started a blog novel.
I know readers are waiting for the next chapter and disappointing them doesn’t sit well with me. Hence, I’m writing. And the comments on my online work push me to write on my WIP. It’s a win-win situation.
The only point I more or less disagree with is the “talking about writing isn’t writing”. I agree but would moderate it a bit: once a week, I meet with writing-inclined friends and we discuss chapters we just wrote or are about to write. It allows me to incorporate some initial feedbacks in my first draft and, I believe, makes the manuscript stronger from the get-go.
Gosh, I’m rambling! Gotta go or I’ll never finish my manuscript before the month’s end. ;)
What a great kick in the pants, lol. I love it! Thank you!
You know, I went to a writer chat just yesterday as I do every week. “Listened” to all these writers talking about their works in progress, about how to write a beginning or middle or ending, etc. etc. Had an epiphany that I’ve been doing this for almost a year! A year of reading blogs about writing. A year of not writing (except for flash fiction).
So yesterday I sent out a submission to a short story contest for the first time and decided things have to change.
This AMAZING post pinpoints what that is. Thank you.
Movin’ on to Chapter 4–now!!!!
Timely post!
Well said. Writers write. Amen.
Thank you for this excellent post. Tough love is always welcome. Writers write. I look at my daily writing the way musicians look at their daily practicing. (Disclaimer–I’m no musician! But my husband and son are.) If you’re a musician, you don’t talk about the concert, you play the music. You work on scales, push yourself to play harder work. You get feedback from your teacher and your fellow musicians. You play and you practice every day.
I’m a writer. I actively work on my craft every day. Some days that means getting my 1K goal on the current WIP. Some days that means editing something else. Other days it means the free writing exercises to keep me from getting stale, or brainstorming the next project.
When I was in my 20s, I had this idea that I would be a writer. Back then, that meant sitting in a coffee shop or a pub and waiting for inspiration to strike, then capturing it in the perfect words the first time, since to edit or work at it would insult the muse. I talked and talked about all the things I would write. I actually wrote very little and what I did complete was pretty pedestrian.
It took me another decade or so of life and experience to understand what it meant to be dedicated to the craft. Now excuse me but I have a lot of wasted years to make up for. :)
Um…okay. Logging off the internets now.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ThereseWalsh and Kay Cassidy, LadyHawkins. LadyHawkins said: RT @ThereseWalsh: Not writing? @jchutchins kicks some ass today at Writer Unboxed. Read it, then go write: http://tinyurl.com/33jht65 […]
Don’t sugarcoat it or anything. *grin*
I’d reply to this, but that would mean I’m talking, not writing. Oh, dang. I screwed up again.
This post goes into my daily reading file…what a great motivator early in the day.
‘the words on the page won’t match the visions in your head’
I hardly ever talk about my writing to anyone (‘how’s it going?’ ‘Rejection again . . .’ gets old) but it’s that quote that paralyzes me the most.
Needed a swift kick in the pants. I have somehow managed to spend the past month doing little more than reading blogs, tweets, websites and blogging, tweeting and commenting myself. It’s really (really, really) hard to sit at the computer to write and leave the internet disconnected. But it’s the only way to get any writing done. Your admonishments will be ringing in my ears for a while. Thanks!
Ha, I read the title and said, “Oh, Shit.” I find myself doing a lot of what you’re talking about….that is, talking and not doing. However, it’s usually a conversation with myself telling me why I should be working hard instead of wasting time reading blogs like this telling me to work hard. Don’t they call that irony?
Anyway, just thought I’d say I enjoyed your style of writing. You definitely have “dude” written all over it (your style). Thanks for being the dick.
yup. i hear ya.
Dear Dick;
Thank you.
Sincerely,
To Quote Yoda: “There is no try. Only do.”
[…] Not at anyone in particular, just the timing. JC Hutchins of Writer Unboxed just posted an article “Are you writing, or talking about writing?” LC calls us all out onto the carpet for watching television and reading for more hours than we […]
Wait, so outlining for a year isn’t writing? Darn! ;)
Love. And how true.
Wordherders is also my new favorite word mutation.
:D
Good point, but why so crudely made? Masturbate? Dick? Shitless? Frickin? Really? Really? Is that what it requires to get our attention and hold it? I hope not.
@Sheree: Why? For the very reason why you’re wringing your hands. To evoke a reader’s emotional response. Thank you for reading the post, and for validating my approach. Good luck with your work in progress!
My ass, it has been kicked. Thanks for a great post, JC. It’s going viral, too.
Awesome post.
Awesome video, can’t wait to see it.
Much needed! Thank you!
[…] you writing or just talking about […]
It’s not only talking about writing but now with blogland, it’s also writing about writing. Blogging is not writing that novel either. Blogging is only writing if you’re going to publish what you blog.
Great post JC.
Yep. I’m doing more talking than writing. Very sorry, I will knock it off. :)
Wow. Just wow. Gotta go right now — write now.
thanx
Thank you for kicking me in the nuts
I needed it.
I deserved it.
Yes, yes. Got up early to write. Half an hour later on web street and I’ve I wandered into this place, nice though it is, enough, I’m outta here.
Blogging is a great way to work on keeping your skills sharp. The question is whether it is helping or hindering your ability to make money from writing.
Great post, J.C. and very true. It’s only been in the last few months that I’ve been writing, submitting, and writing again but the sense of achievement and progress makes it worthwhile. Daydreaming will get you nowhere, you need to get that page written and keep going. (And try to avoid falling back into the trap of talking not writing.)
Merry =^..^=
<– this comment, right here? Not writing. ;-)
I love your passion and I think you’ve sparked some folks to shut up and get back to that novel that’s collecting digital dust (me included).
Did a blog post of a similar vein myself not too long ago: https://ctefft.blogspot.com/2010/07/dont-be-writer.html
Thanks for the drill sargeant shake!
Great post. Honest and motivating.
I read the title for this blog and immediately thought of a title for a post of my own, which also told me what post to write. “Stop trying to write me and write me!”
Marc Vun Kannon
https://authorguy.wordpress.com
Excellent!
I’ve spent a lot of time talking the talk, myself.
While I have also walked the walk, I’ll admit to it not being nearly enough.
Thanks for the kick in the pants.
I’m a cat. I even know you said somethin’ smart my human, Tommy oughta read, after she pets and feeds ME, that is. Tommy even belongs to a writers’ group here in Dallas. I don’t really don’t what Tommy writes, she just yaps how good the dessert served was. Tommy NEVER takes much writing with her. I know my human can write, heck Tommy Facebooks daily…After reading your words, Writer Human, my Tommy’s gotta get up and get in gear. gear. Everything you wrote is what Tommy mutters about. You spoke truth–LOTS of it. And Tommy don’t get any younger these days-she talks ’bout something called a AM Transistor Radio. Anyway, Writer Person, I’m gonna ‘favorite’ your post for my Tommy. You hit it all on the head. Opened up my all ready round, emerald eyes. Smart, to the point human you are. I’m a cat. I know these things.
Great post! Thank you!
Great post!!! You hit the nail right on the head for me, even with all the cuss words. :)
As they say, “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.” Or, in this case, “talk.” This is a great piece, but I can’t help but think of the dog biting the hand…etc. “Stop wasting your time reading my blog about writing and write for cryin’ out loud!”
@Scott: I don’t quite follow the logic of your comment. If you’re suggesting that the author of the post (me) is “talking” because he “can’t” deliver publishable and salable content of his own, I refer you to my website, where you can learn about the two novels I’ve published with St. Martin’s Press, my animation screenplays which have been produced, the numerous multimedia projects I’ve released for free, and the recent transmedia fiction prequel I helped realize for the Discovery Channel.
As far as the dog biting the hand — whose hand might the author be biting? The readers’? Your critique might hold up to scrutiny if you had paid for the advice in this post, or if I were paid to provide it. If the “hand” you refer to represents the sensibilities of the founders of this website, both Therese and Kathleen vociferously praised the post in the 50+ comments here.
Thankfully, you did indeed glean the clear message of my essay: If you’re eager to become a successful storyteller, tune out the distractions (including TV, the web and blogs about writing — I believe we can agree that your own blog falls into this category), and remain focused on your work in progress.
Good luck with your novels.
Thanks for the kick in the pants. I’ve been putting off projects for the last oh, seven months in lieu of ‘other things.’ But you’re right, less talk, more action. I’m probably going to bookmark this blog for when I decide to procrastinate again.
[…] 1 Sep I recently discovered WU thanks to Facebook and Writer’s Digest. If you’re a writer or wanna be you must check it out. Today I was looking at some of the posts from July and stumbled upon this post. […]
Wow! You hit the nail on the head. Thanks. I needed that kick in the pants.
[…] Writer Unboxed: Are you writing, or talking about writing? Wow! Talk about a well needed kick up in the ***! I needed to hear this SO bad. In my search for perfect I’ve been doing a lot of talking about writing and the craft of writing *sigh* and not a lot of writing. Time to change that huh? […]