A couple of months ago, I finally buckled down and said that I would do what I always wanted to do. I would write a book. I put together an outline — that was the easy part. Filling in words has been tough.
I'm shocked that I've found writing to be so tough. After all, I can poop out five blog posts before 10:00 am. I wrote a dissertation. I'm trying to write for a popular audience, so this should be easier than a dissertation, right? I'm not using footnotes or long strings of references. I'm writing about a topic that I am intimately familiar. Shouldn't this be easy?
Well, no. It's not. Dissertations and academic writing are guided by strict rules and formal structures. Fluid writing is less important than the results of the research. Academic books are often "cut and paste" efforts based on a series of small papers written over several years. Blog posts are short, typo filled, and have the immediate rewards of comments. It's adrenaline fueled writing.
I'm tricking myself with little rewards. One paragraph equals a game of solitaire. I'm following other writers on Twitter, who announce their word count for the day. Competition is a motivator. I joined a writers' group on Meetup to create a deadline for a polished product. I'm slowing down the blogging and writing for other venues, because a person can only produce so many words in one day.
At the same time, writing is so boring that I have to break up the day with outings — a trip to the gym and lunch with my sister. If I don't do those things, then I end up disheveled and spacy when the kids come home.
I'm not sure this project is going to work out. I may not have the talent or the fortitude to finish. My harddrive contains several other aborted efforts from the past. Well, I'm further along that I've gotten before. I'm trying to not get caught up with questions like "Does this suck?," "Will anybody care about this?," or "Does this book make my ass look big?". I'm just carrying on.
Apt. 11d 
I am currently reading the blogs and/or following twitter feeds of a number of writers and am sort of shocked by how hard writing seems to be even for writers! I have always hated writing and that’s why I went into a more scientific field. But I always thought writers found writing easy and the words just flowed for the. I guess I was wrong. I feel for all of you writers as it must be hard to feel a calling for something that is so hard on a daily basis. I thank goodness my job gets easier with the years- almost on autopilot right now (which now that I’m in middle age and dealing with 2 kids is just about how i like it!)
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It’s quite simple: writing sucks. And it’s really really hard. I am with you on this 120%.
It sounds like, based on your internal dialogue at the end, that you are listening to that radio station KFKD, as noted by Ann Lamotte. It is currently running at my computer just now.
If you need inspiration read Bird by Bird: http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016
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I type 2,000 words every day. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over again. Keeps people away from the office.
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Hey, I’m just impressed by the number of blog posts. I have a hard enough time doing one a day and you often do several.
Keep at it. Supposedly it get’s easier when it’s really habitual……
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It takes a lot of courage to try to become a writer. My friend and blogger (and your reader) Anjali writes a lot about that, she might comment later!
Anyway… I’ve arbitrarily decided that I don’t have what it takes to be a writer. Maybe I’ll keep the academic writing thing going, maybe, and of course the blog. I really admire those who decide to try and stick to it! I hope you do because I think I’d enjoy to read your writing.
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Shoulder pads should help.
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If you can team up with someone who’s experienced in writing for popular audiences, it helps. It hurt the academic in me to excise 700 words about the Great Councils, my chapter comparing governments from the wizarding world of Harry Potter with their Muggle equivalents. The project still was more joy than suffering because my editor understood the challenge of switching gears from academic writing to popular prose.
Good luck and let us know how it’s going!
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I’m going to try to close that tag.
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From 2005 to 2007 I wrote a non-academic book and found it quite easy. _Catherine’s Grandchildren: A Short History of the Russian-Germans under Soviet Rule_ was published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in Lincoln Nebraska in 2009. The secret is to write one or two pages every day and then edit it at the end.
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For me, nothing beats Write or Due for getting the words out.
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Oh my gosh, was I just complimented by Lilian on this blog? (Blushing)
I find writing nearly impossible. It gives me headaches, insomnia, and a restlessness like no other. I’m making the transition from writing creative nonfiction (which comes more naturally to me) to fiction right now. (I’m working on a novel.) While I can fire off a blog entry or a personal essay fairly easily, fiction feels like having my toenails pulled out with pliers.
I’d love to know who you follow on twitter, because I have a lot of trouble writing a minimum number of words every day– I tend to go back and revise way, way too often.
Best of luck with your work in progress!
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“American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in Lincoln Nebraska in 2009.”
We used drive by the sign for that place all the time. I always wondered why in Lincoln, but I never went there. Mostly, I made jokes how Paulus’s army got lost.
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OK, let’s try this. Why do italics drive me insane?
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MH: A very large number of Volga Germans immigrated to Nebraska during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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One more attempt!
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J. Otto Pohl: Same with the Irish, but they started a drinking holiday, not a museum in an low-rent part of Lincoln.
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Speaking of writer’s block, one of my relatives recently finished a basement in her house while procrastinating on her dissertation.
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