{"id":49,"date":"2015-01-15T21:41:57","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T21:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=49"},"modified":"2015-01-15T21:41:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T21:41:57","slug":"prepare-to-be-uninspired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/15\/prepare-to-be-uninspired\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepare to be Uninspired!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Decently<\/a>
Decently Fantasy-ish landscapes make me smile.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I re-read some of my most recent posts and noticed that they’re all tending toward more ‘inspirational’ rather than ‘writing-ional’. \u00a0Which is fine, but I want to talk about writing today, so prepare to be not-inspired (in a good way!)<\/p>\n

Great\u00a0writers make writing a habit, much like good musicians make practicing a habit. \u00a0And smart writers measure their work to try to understand what they are capable of at any given time in order to set and meet specific deadlines. \u00a0That’s all well and good, but it’s very easy to get caught up in numbers; hell, just look at standardized testing practices. \u00a0Numbers are good for some things, but they’re just as un-good for others (for all you readers of Orwell).<\/p>\n

What do I mean? \u00a0Well, I’m glad you asked.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, I sat down at my laptop, caffeinated beverage by my side, and proceeded to crank out 3,000 and some words, and also\u00a0edited and revised a few chapters of my other manuscript, and also\u00a0planned the upcoming week’s blog ideas, and also\u00a0cheered triumphantly as I drove mine enemies before me. \u00a0It was a good day. \u00a0No, a great<\/em> day,\u00a0most easily summed up by those 3,000 words, of which I’m very proud.<\/p>\n

Then Wednesday came knocking. \u00a0As did my head against my desk. \u00a0At the end of the day I clocked maybe *maybe<\/em>* 900 words, if you count the hundred or two that I deleted. \u00a0Yes, I don’t always heed my own advice *slap on hand<\/em><\/p>\n

It would be really easy to write that day off as unproductive, useless, a general waste of life, yadda yadda. \u00a0After all, I spent seven hours writing 900 words. \u00a0Do the maths: that’s 128 words\/hour. \u00a0Bleh!!! I could burp-speak into dragon dictation and finish my story faster than that…<\/i><\/p>\n

And that’s where you’re wrong, you burp-speakers. \u00a0Because–just like you can’t measure learning through a single test score–you can’t always judge a writer’s productivity by counting words written per day. \u00a0That’s a fact I need to keep telling\u00a0myself<\/em>\u00a0from time to time, too.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because the brain needs to percolate or else your writing will starve. \u00a0And only Hemmingway likes emaciated prose. \u00a0Ideas simmer and cook and the concept that is “book” comes more into focus. \u00a0I couldn’t have had “incredible-Tuesday” without putting down the manuscript\u00a0over the weekend and\u00a0thinking<\/em> about it. \u00a0This is why it’s easy to dismiss writing as “creative fun” rather than “work”. \u00a0If someone were to take a peek at me during the percolation stage, they’d have reason to think I was joking around about being an author. \u00a0I mean, look! \u00a0He’s just staring at the screen, drooling and drinking a never-ending tumbler of iced coffee…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This isn’t an excuse to have more drool-days. \u00a0Seriously. \u00a0It’s just an attempt to explain the process a little more.<\/p>\n

So the next time your writer friend gets all spooky and unproductive, don’t freak out and grab your zombie-slaying machete. \u00a0We’re not un-dead, we’re just thinking.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. \u00a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is why it’s easy to dismiss writing as “creative fun” rather than “work”. If someone were to take a peek at me during the percolation stage, they’d have reason to think I was joking around about being an author. I mean, look! He’s just staring at the screen, drooling and drinking a never-ending tumbler of iced coffee… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[27,50],"tags":[65,94,113,192,200,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/08\/19\/character-pain\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":0},"title":"Character Pain","date":"August 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Character pain sounds like a bad thing, and it is. Audiences don't like it, writers don't like writing it (the empathetic human beings among us, that is), but nothing could be more quintessential to high quality entertainment.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Bones\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/08\/observe-experience-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":1},"title":"Observe, Experience, Write!","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Writers observe everything. \u00a0But Zachary, you might contend,\u00a0doesn't everyone see everything? \u00a0Ah, nope. \u00a0It's the\u00a0difference between\u00a0hearing music and\u00a0listening to music. \u00a0One requires active participation, and one does not. \u00a0Writers\u00a0are human-shaped sponges, absorbing experience, digesting it, and turning it into meaningful prose. Just try it. \u00a0Step back from a group conversation\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"Similar post","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":983,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/04\/25\/master-insights-stephen-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":2},"title":"Master Insights: Stephen King","date":"April 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What King is saying is not to avoid writing darlings, but rather to remove them from the final product. This is important because I believe that breathing life into those \"darlings\" is one of the best ways a writer can improve his craft.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}