Yes, I’m still here. This has been the longest duration between newsletters since starting Becoming Polymathic. What necessitated it wasn’t lack of ideas or time, but a need to dedicate resources towards my second novel, Backward. It became apparent after my last piece on May 4th, despite my continued belief its first draft is significantly better than that of its predecessor, it wasn’t progressing fast enough. Since then, I wrote over 10,000 words, approximately 25 8.5”x11” pages of double-spaced size 10 Times New Roman. For the data fiends (me included), that’s 357 words per day. The average of the first four months was 222. I’ll count that as a victory, although I’m still behind. Sorry to disappoint those hoping for a comeback tale. Thankfully, December 16th is still six-and-a-half months away.
On On Writing
By no means was it wasted time. I finally read Stephen King’s On Writing after allowing it to gather dust since Christmas. As far as commercially successful authors go, he’s on the Mt. Rushmore alongside James Patterson, J.K. Rowling, and Danielle Steel. Emphasis on COMMERICALLY SUCCESSFUL. Regarding King, I read the first novella of Different Seasons – Hope Springs Eternal, better known as The Shawshank Redemption – a few years ago. Regarding the others, I only read three quarters of Steel’s All that Glitters. The only commentary I have is reading the latter gave me all the confidence necessary to continue pursuing writing. That’s not a critique, that’s my inner Jeremy Clarkson leaping out like a stuck pig screaming “how hard can it be?”
On Writing – Real Commitment
Back to On Writing. It’s a fantastic read. Consumable, insightful, and universal. Replace “writing” with any activity and its core message remains intact. In its simplest form, that message is as follows:
Real commitment to a craft is a commitment to change your life. Otherwise, it is a hobby.
There was little about self-belief or any other form of modern pop psychology. In part this is due to it being published in 2000 by a 53 year-old ex-alcoholic, nearly disabled author. Mostly, it’s due to reality. Belief in yourself is the universal starting point to any venture. The rest of the journey is discipline and luck. It doesn’t matter how much confidence you possess, if one day you were to wake up untrained and attempt to run a marathon, you would fail. In many ways, that’s the story of writing Forward. I did what I set out to: publish a novel by my 30th birthday. Would I do anything the same for my next works? Hell no. I completed the marathon in 4:00:00, but I wore brand new shoes, ate too much in the morning, packed water instead of Gatorade, and started too fast. When I crossed the finish line I’d puked twice and wasn’t sure if I still had knees or skin on my toes, or working lungs.
Side note: I’ve never ran a marathon, though I knew somebody who was stupid enough to try one on a whim. That was his story.
On Writing – Other Important Lessons
The following lessons won’t be regarding the minutia of writing mechanics, rather the principles of being a writer. Second only to commitment is the writer’s responsibility to tell the story in its most truthful form. Not the most optimal grammatically, nor using the most sophisticated language. Often, he states, these two goals, which are prioritized in school, ruin a story’s authenticity and discourage the writer discovering his or her style. Spending too much time researching, another habit school emphasizes, is as damaging. Furthermore, it eliminates subjects of genuine interest to the writer. Again, the writer’s responsibility is to tell a story in the most truthful way; that will entail a degree of research. It’s not the responsibility of the writer, unless it’s his or her occupation, to write a textbook.
Discovery is also central to the next significant takeaway. There are as many writing rituals as there are writers, but all writers have a ritual. A corollary, there are as many writing styles as there are writers, but all writers have a style. Underpinning both is disciplined curiosity, Becoming Polymathic’s dead horse. Copying the rituals and styles of other writers, like self-belief, is an acceptable starting point without any other basis. Quickly, however, it’s paramount to diverge and begin discovering your rituals and style. Nobody likes a copycat, and tribute bands can only be so entertaining. So long as you continue writing and consuming a breadth of works, this portion will handle itself.
The final takeaway, as alluded to in the previous sentence, is the importance of reading. Writers must be obsessive readers (the reverse is not true). There is not, however, a curriculum of books all writers must read. King provides an extensive list of works he’s enjoyed throughout the decades at the end of the book. He also clearly states these are works he enjoyed, nothing more. Here’s that horse again; start with a work that interests you, then extrapolate, annotate, and incorporate.
Backward Today
As of this rainy Sunday afternoon Backward sits at 33,730 words, 85 pages of 8.5”x11” double-spaced size 10 Times New Roman. The first draft of Forward had 50,741 words, 153 pages of 8.5”x11” double-spaced size 10 Times New Roman as of last August. My goal is to reach 60,000 words by the first week of August. It’s daunting. It’s also a sign of progress. Returning to the marathon analogy, the second should be better than the first for no reason other than the standard is higher. In the moment that higher standard is easy to confuse with inadequacy or lack of progress. It shouldn’t. The only difference is the yardstick.
I have no doubt Backward will be better than Forward, and even more confident the trilogy’s third will be better than it, and the next works better than them all. The next update will be when Backward is available for purchase. I don’t intend on boring you with the day-to-day, or even the week-to-week trivialities. Somebody else on the internet will provide that content. All I will do is deliver what is required by Stephen King and every other writer – a truthful story.
Be More.
Become Polymathic.
Quote of the Week: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King