A Drop of the Dull, Hard Stuff

I Miss Typewriters

When I was pup, sipping small beer and learning all my curse words from VHS tapes, I imagined the Writing Life to be pretty leisurely. I’d sell a novel, be recognized as a genius, and spend my days tapping out words while publishers delivered a steady stream of gifts in order to win my favor.

It didn’t exactly turn out that way.

A lot of writers, however, still think that way—that writing is all about being creative and creating and butt-in-the-seat and all that. Which it is, of course, Except there’s a lot of other stuff involved. Dull, boring stuff. For example, here’s what I’ve done over the last thirty days or so:

• Written and revised a 15,000 word book proposal
• Written a half dozen idea pitches for stories
• Written a short story longhand
• Transcribed a short story from longhand
• Submitted a dozen short stories to various markets
• Discussed a reprint of a previously published short story
• Written a few dozen freelance pieces
• Negotiated a reprint (in Sweden!) of an article I wrote
• Completed a novel
• Began two novels

Aside from the freelance stuff, none of this has an immediate or even certain paycheck; it’s all spec. And it’s a lot of work, between staying organized and awake (and sometimes sober). And that’s what a lot writing careers look like—a whole lot of hustle.

Now someone go buy one of my books so I’ll have beer money.