2K and the 10% Rule

Still on the subject of writing 2,000 fresh words a day – do or die.

The reality, of course, is that writing 2,000 words a day of fresh material is a very difficult task to do – if you think about it. Family situations arise, your girlfriend calls, your momma wants to tell you about the new gray-spotted owl she spotted while taking out spots on her laundry. All these things are important, even essential, to the living of a good life. If I were to think too hard on writing so much work I think I’d pop a blood vessel or two – and I knew a few who feel that I probably have.

So the trick is: don’t think about it. Do it.

Get that word processor fired up (think blank page), put your fingers to the keyboard and get typing. I usually start with: Now is the time for every good writer to get off his ass and write.

This usually doesn’t help much but it does get me 15 words closer to my goal. Then the second sentence should come: Why the F am I writing anything down when I don’t really care what I’m writing about? Because you’re writing something – anything at all – to get some work done.

What then begins to happen are all those thoughts regarding that house you saw with the window shade half opened or that guy who nearly cut off that pedestrian or the mother who kept slapping her child at the restaurant thoughts start creeping in. Those moments where you thought to yourself: I should write a story or journal entry or observation about those things, but never did.

And all of a sudden, those thoughts creep from the grey matter of your brain like the living dead, and they make themselves available for you to entertain – or at least take a pot-shot at. Or, if you’re lucky, begin writing that scene you had in your head time and time again. This happened to me a couple of days ago and I got rolling and produced 3K.

There are a number of Communication principles at work here (I’ll let Nostrabobus explain) but the thing I’d like to suggest here is that some of the early, crappy writing – getting it out of the way, is necessary for the sake of exploration.

It’s a lot like taking an essay exam. Unless you’re brilliant (I’m not) and can proceed without any preparation (I can’t) it is a wise strategy to take 10% of the time allotted for test and spend 8% planning with loose outlines and thematically key words to frame the essay. (the other 2% should be used to edit at the end of the time)

So the principle is simple:

1) Get the ball rolling – anyway you can.

2) Write what comes up mentally, naturally, or even take a few minutes to plan ahead.

3) Once you’ve found your focus (ie: write a scene) then move forward.

I can’t recall the reference, except that it was in an Idiot’s Guide or Xfor Dummies but the attribution/paraphrase is close: Roger Zelazney sez: If you want to write more work – type faster.