Why Writing Is A Marathon Game, Not A Sprint

When I was a kid, I remember hearing a parable about the Japanese bamboo. Yes, Japanese bamboo:)

Bear with me.

Basically, the story went like this: A woman decided to grow some Japanese bamboo in her garden. She planted the seeds, and started watering the ground. Nothing happened in the first year. Or the second. Ditto the third. By the fourth year she was resigned to failure but stubbornly hopeful. By the fifth year, she was way beyond frustrated, and entering into the giving-up phase dreaded by gardeners everywhere *shudder*.

But - for no reason other than that aforementioned stubborness - she finally thought: 'what the heck, I've been watering those darn seeds this long, why not finish the fifth year on a hopeful note?'

And thus was born the parable to crown all parables. For - at the end of that fifth year - the Japanese bamboo began to grow!

That is an understatement.

It actually shot up towards the sky, in a miniature 'Jack and the Beanstalk'-beanstalk kind of way; that bamboo grew a whopping 80 feet in 6 weeks!

Now, our determined heroine's neighbours were very impressed by this tall bamboo lording it over its shorter relatives on the street with such casual arrogance. They vociferously complimented our heroine on growing such a plant of 80 feet in a mere 6 weeks (secretly, of course, they were hoping she'd give them some tips on how she'd accomplished this miraculous feat).

Our astute heroine corrected their assumptions at once. That Japanese bamboo grew 80 feet, she said kindly, not in 6 weeks but in 5 years and 6 weeks.

Get it?

Lol yeah, it's another of those 'persevere and you shall prevail' stories:)

What can I say? I'm really a big believer in determination winning the day. The tortoise and the hare, anyone? No matter how much talent someone has, someone with less talent who works harder than their talented counterpart will someday - not only draw even with him - but probably surpass him.

Heck, talent itself is probably tied very closely to how much practice a person puts into their field of interest in the first place. Practise makes perfect, after all. Hmmm, I'm full of cliched sayings today, eh? They're true though:)

Writers who see their job as a marathon game instead of a quick sprint will ultimately sustain writing as a bona fide paying career in the long-term.

Not so the sprinters of our writerly world - at some point, they're gonna lose the fight. They won't have the stamina, nor stomach, for a long engagement with that blank sheet of paper - not when the rewards for their hard work don't seem sufficient.

But, you see, some rewards are just a long time in coming. Once they arrive, they more than make up for the investment of time and effort put into reaping those rewards.

My surfing days of late have brought me into contact with lots of information about writing, talent and determination. Much like the 'bamboo tree' parable, what I've read so far fits in perfectly with the concept that investment in practising your craft makes all the difference between realising talent/potential and causing it to stagnate.

For those who'd like to read more on the value of putting in the time to build talent, you might enjoy the following blog posts: Dean Wesley Smith's 'Talent is a Myth', Amlokiblogs' post on the need for 10,000 hours of deliberate practice for one to achieve success, and the many valuable points raised in David Gaughran's post 'Word-of-Mouth In Action', including the need for writers to keep producing work in order to have a lengthy career in the publishing world.

Before I tuck in for the night, I'd like to make one thing clear: I do believe that there is such a thing as talent and that it is an important ingredient for success. But I also believe that someone who's apparently not talented in a certain craft can stimulate or build talent by exercising their interest and drive to acquire the skills needed to exercise that craft.

At the end, more important than talent is the determination to push through whatever challenges are thrown in the way of your dreams and - quite simply - working your butt off to achieve 'em. Hmmmm, now, if only I can follow my own advice...:)

What do you think? Does talent trump hard work? Or vice versa? And would knowing the answer to these questions help any writer (or artist, really) to achieve success in their chosen profession?

Why Writing Is A Marathon Game, Not A Sprint

The Impact of the Internet and Social Media on Creativity

For the past month or so, I've been trying to amp up my presence online. As a marketing tool or a means of gaining information on the publishing industry, the Internet (and social media) has been invaluable. But at the same time, I've noticed a marked downward curve in my creative output.

It's tricky, this business of being a writer. Things are moving very fast. Or at least, they seem to be moving fast when you want to get your name out there. For this reason, I think most writers feel the pressure to utilise all avenues and forums which might bring one visibility or knowledge about visibility. And what greater forum is there than the World Wide Web (with its related media)?

I can't say that the Web's negative effects outweigh its benefits for everyone. That won't happen to individuals who are careful and deliberate about the way they spend their time online. But this simply isn't as easy to do as it sounds. Especially if being online is an acitivity that can turn addictive to certain personalities (such as mine).

I was enjoying my time online until pretty recently. Despite the sometimes tendency of online communities to have their moments of tension (blogged about here), I've had good conversations, learned a lot, and gained useful knowledge on online tools for both communication and marketing. This blog is one of the best things that has come out of my time online. Coming across gorgeous blogs such as those featured in my blogroll (and many others) was another great experience.

The problem was, despite the benefits to all these experiences, I became aware of the adverse change to my attention span (it became frighteningly short), I developed the tendency to experience mood swings when I was away from the Internet/Social Media, and the need to establish a strong, unique voice in the online world became absurdly important to me - regretfully, even at the expense of establishing a voice in the 'real' world.

And I shouldn't forget about the fear I developed that not interacting online would make people who'd just come to know me forget all about me. Or that personal & professional connections built might just collapse if I wasn't there to maintain them every odd hour.

Given the above, it's no surprise that this online/social media business began to feel a lot like an addiction to me; an unhealthy addiction.

It was an addiction that was making me spend less time with friends and family, while keeping me up at night when I should have been investing in sleep so that I could wake up fresh the next day to edit my manuscript.

Hmmm, just look at the way I coined that sentence. 'Investing' in sleep. As though sleep shouldn't simply come naturally every night - it should.

Oh, and - this was the one thing I foolishly didn't expect - I began to lose that wonderful inner resource that is the writer's mojo: my creativity.

The imagination is a mysterious and remarkable thing. It stimulates creativity and allows writers to paint the most astonishing and marvellous scenes down in words. But the process isn't a clear-cut one by any margin. For the creative imagination to work, one requires time and effort and well... mojo.

And - for me at least - I know my creative imagination works best when it's given time to breathe and think and just be.

Preferably with some slow music in the background, or even that heavenly nectar that prompts the imagination into life - silence.

You might think that interacting online doesn't equate to noise, but you'd be mistaken. My head has been buzzing with conversations started that have yet to be finished in forum/comment threads, blogs to visit that I forgot to visit and have since been popping up in my mind's eye like unnatural little memory bank reminders, stats on visitors to this blog/readers sampling my books that I simply have to check every odd hour, and sheesh a thousand and one little online items that are totally irrelevant to creativity if I just paused to think about it.

But you see, there is no pause if you're addicted to worlds online. There is just the noisy buzz of continuous communication and interaction trying to capture your attention and your words. Hmmmm, I feel exhausted just typing that, thinking about it...

It's amazing how this can happen to a previously productive and happy writer who could sit down in one place for nigh on 6-8 hours each day for seven days a week (while working full-time) and simply, quietly, WRITE.

Now, most of my writing seems invested in blog/forum comments (which is fine if I was quick with them, but I really take a long time to compose comments. Mostly because I take a ridiculous amount of time to ensure I don't accidentally offend anyone out there who might be reading my work).

This is a sad state of affairs, and one which disturbs me deeply.

Simply put, my online presence is something I've been maintaining pretty often when what I should actually have been maintaining this whole time is my writing output.

After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that - this blog (and professional material) aside - I should take time off the Internet/social media. Reading others' blog posts and commenting on 'em is fine as long as it's done with thought and care for my writing schedule. But otherwise, I would be an idiot to throw away the gift that is writing for the high that addiction to online tools and material/social media gives me.

Reading the post 'Food For Thought' on Shrinking Violet Promotions was btw one of the deciding factors to make me limit my time online. The post (and its fantastic links) answered why and how addiction to the Internet/Social Media works, and why it can harm a writer's creativity/productivity. The dangers of intermittent reinforcement, not to mention the results of an experiment by a writer which pointed to the lack of any strong, tangible benefits that social media in particular can bring to writers, were brought home with a vengeance.

The Food For Thought post I mention above really made me cringe at the thought of all those hours wasted not writing. Focus and commitment on completing content (the actual stories) simply has to take priority to any other activity online from now on. It's definitely time to reassess my priorities and restructure my daily schedule with the goal of becoming a happy and productive writer again.

To all writers out there, if you're still thinking twice about the benefits of limiting your time online, I can only repeat a pertinent question that Joe Konrath asked his blog readers the other day (and which all writers should in fact be asking themselves frequently if they want to get anywhere in this industry): Are You Writing?

The Impact of the Internet and Social Media on Creativity

Why the online world would greatly benefit from that singular invention - the Chill Pill:D

The pit-falls of being an active writer in an online world have become clearer to me this week. From the fiasco that heralded a certain writer's (admittedly defensive) response to a review online earlier this year, to the arbitrary banning of commentators on a certain online writing forum, to the absurd amount of time I've been spending online to research marketing and promotion and all things self-publishing - it's become pretty obvious that the Internet holds traps for the unwary that can easily leak into one's personal and professional life.

Put simply, my time online - once useful and motivating - has turned akin to a psychic vampire.

I cannot get enough of surfing sites on publishing and writing, but ironically have reduced my writing output as a result.

The addiction to surfing interesting sites to the detriment of writing time is a topic that deserves its own post. Today though, I'm thinking of the impact that cyber bullying can have on one's online experience.

My often introverted self has lately made a push to participate in the active online communities and forums out there. But though my experiences online have been pretty positive, I've noticed a disquieting urge building in me to cater to the mood of others, to stay wary of inviting incidences of cyber bullying that have been popping up on the blogs and forums I enjoy the most.

I was reading a post recently on the effects witnessing/being involved in intances of cyber-bullying can have on online personalities. Natalie Whipple's post 'On Egg Shells' was a thought-provoking read. She seems to have a fun, witty and interesting take on life. That the negative atmosphere that sometimes builds online might inhibit her freedom of speech is a disturbing thought.

In such situations, every reader loses out because of the intense negativity of a few. Surely, this is an absurd and wasteful result of what should be the great, wonderful experiment that is the Internet.

The fact is, the greatest cities and civilisations are built on simple tenets of civility and freedom of speech coexisting. Without the reassurance of dialogue remaining civil, how can freedom of speech possibly rein strong?

I know that it seems like a contradiction in terms - to be free and civil. And yet, this is what prevents the greatest enemy to freedom from holding sway: self-censorship.

The pressure to conform can become intensely strong when one is alone in one's views, especially so when hordes of virtual (often anonymous) commentators decide to descend on one like starving vultures on a hapless piece of meat. I know this feeling well in reality, but to see situations disintegrate to farcical name-calling or malicious strings of hate-comments online... it kind of makes me angrier than I am when faced with a similar situation in real life.

My reaction's probably as strong as it is because I see the online world as one of greater freedom and liberation than anything previously seen in reality - and I can't quite mix online cruelty into this paradigm with any success.

Make no mistake, the Internet is a great, wandering civilisation of its own, one that's growing larger and more varied as days go by. And like all civilisations, it's annoyingly vulnerable to dark moments of persistent bullying, with negative voices clouding discussions instead of encouraging rich dialogue.

It would be a cruel joke though, wouldn't it, if the new and liberating frontier of the online world falls prey to negative traits that would inhibit the liberation it stood for to begin with?

But I'm hopeful that commentators will grow to see the value that being civil can get you, the validity it gives to posts and comments, and the progress a civilised discussion can bring to important issues that need such discussion.

Most of all, I'm hopeful that those of us who do believe in the value of civility will speak out loud and clear when a string of comments begins to degenerate into a hate-fest of absurd proportions.

Until the worlds online draw back from a 'Wild, Wild West' vibe though, and simply chill and enjoy the multitudes of voices that are now open for us to experience, I might just limit my online forays and invest more of my time on my greatest love: writing:) All with positive vibes upfront in my writerly mind:)

Happy writing (and reading) to all!:)

Why the online world would greatly benefit from that singular invention - the Chill Pill:D