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April 10, 2003A Writer's Curse...
Since the beginning of November, I’ve written just over 11,000 words of fictional prose. Considering that Stephen King proscribes a daily regimen of 1,000 words a day for aspiring writers in his book On Writing, my sum is pretty paltry. Granted, I did direct “Hamlet” and “English Made Simple” over the last five months, which certainly gobbled up a good portion of my free time during November and March. But what about the other months? Writer’s block. Too much self-editing. Too little inspiration.
My good friend Jon Bastian once related the story of a person who had bought Ernest Hemingway’s old home. While remodeling the place, they found a wall on which he had inscribed his daily writing progress, much like a parent might mark off their children’s height on a doorframe. One of the entries read something to effect of “April 4th, 800 words—DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!”
It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one whose brain and fingers sometimes don’t heed the muses with quite as much attention as they should. I think I’m going to start posting my daily word count in the journal. If nothing else, it will force me to go public (relatively speaking, with my readership of a few hundred of the world’s six billion inhabitants) with my procrastination.
I eked out a paltry 559 words today. Not the most auspicious start, but it’s better than 558 words—or no words whatsoever, for that matter. When I finish the current section of my current story, perhaps I’ll post it.
Posted by patrick at April 10, 2003 02:29 AM
CommentsAnd, oddly enough, that Hemingway anecdote was told me by my favorite high school English teacher. Funny how things keep cycling around like that. Maybe, years from now, one of your students will be telling it to their English students.
No, wait, really. It could happen. Really, it could...
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