Write Something, Even on the Bad Days

Writing is a writer’s calling, though I find the term storyteller to be far more accurate to what it is we do. We tell stories, hopefully stories people resonate with. Something to enrich their lives and make an impact.

Writing is the medium by which we get our stories told.

I find it fascinating, perhaps even peculiar, that writers often procrastinate actual writing, when it seems to be one of the greatest art forms in the world. You’re sitting in a chair and making things up, and people pay money for our words.

That sounds like a dream job to me.

How do those words come?

One word at a time.

Writing a long novel can be daunting, difficult, and dangerous to the hands.

But it is one of the most rewarding experiences for a writer to finish a novel.

How much is enough?

Whatever it is, you can manage to fit into your schedule. Full-time work takes a toll on our schedules, but unless we’re burning ourselves out, we aren’t lacking in time.

Family comes first, then friends, and then writing. It’s all about priorities, right?

But we need to craft something every day.

For me, writing six days a week is ideal, because for religious reasons, I take a day of rest to recharge and have a spiritual experience that has given my life meaning beyond the mundane.

On those six days, I write about 8,000 words, sometimes up to 10,000 words. But that doesn’t mean it’s all fiction writing. I might write 7200 words of fiction, and then 800 words in a blog post, or stack up blog posts to release over time.

That seems ridiculous, and even exhausting, though I don’t find writing to be work, so it’s like a joy for me.

I’ve taken inspiration from Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, and even the late Kobe Bryant, for how a person with a magnificent work ethic lives their life. There are many other people I look up to with an incredible work ethic, but these two are helping me make my point. Oda spends twenty hours a day working on his masterpiece of fiction, only sleeping four hours. I admit I’m not the biggest One Piece fan—my time is better spent working on my own fiction—but I do admire that work ethic.

I won’t do that—I like my sleep—but it inspires me to work harder. Bryant was always early to the court, often stunning his peers by being the first one there in the early hours of the morning, making hundreds of shots before anyone ever arrived. My preference is to work at night, but early risers have an incredible resolve that I find alluring.

These men genuinely love (loved) what they do.

There is no shortcut on the path to success and fulfilling your dreams.

It might not come today, it might not come twenty-four hours from now, but it may come in five years, or ten. Whenever it comes, you need to be ready, and writing. Or playing. Or loving. Whatever it is you’re waiting for, the first step starts with you.

And yes, writing can be something a writer likes to put off.

But when you get down to the essence of it, writing is getting to play God without the blasphemy.

You don’t have to write 8,000 words. Even 800 words a night will net you 16,000 words a month and you can finish a book in less than half a year that way.

The creative well is there, you only need to fetch the water.

The world is waiting for your story, not for someone else. But it’d be awesome if someone else wrote a story, too, and then another person. The world needs more stories than it has, and each one is uniquely your own. I only have eyes for my own story, not something someone else wrote. They’re going to write that better than I ever could, anyway.

My purpose is to tell my own stories.

I’ve dabbled in the manga field with these stories, too. Writing and illustration together can produce beautiful results. I even have ideas for my novel series that involve an active compliment to the books, and perhaps one day in the future I will be able to do that.

I don’t find AI writing to be appealing at all, though. If someone wants to organize their freelance work with AI, or use it for bookkeeping, then that’s fine. But don’t use it to write your book.

Same thing with art. I’ve made the mistake of not vetting artwork before, and I won’t be making those mistakes again. I’ve hired an artist who works on drawing characters with musical instruments, and I’m impressed with the work she’s done for some people I follow, so I’ll be moving forward with that as time goes on.

I’m able to skirt by with what I’m doing, but it’s not putting my best effort into making a professional product. I don’t want to be not good enough yet; I want to be good. That takes work, dedication, and, as I stated earlier, writing the books.

So, start today.

Write away. ;)