"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." - Isaac Asimov
Week 1 Assignment: Buy a Timer
I've decided to make Tuesday Writing Tuesdays---I'm going to post about writers and writing. (Look on the sidebar for "on writing".) I'm going to do posts on writers, books on writers, and about writing in general and how to develop your craft.
Since my announcement last Wednesday, I've made an astonishing number of connections with people who are working on projects and have been asked a lot of questions. One of the big ones is "how do I start?" Or--"how do I learn how to write?"
I have one essential tool to offer you: It's called--15 minutes. If you want to develop a writing project, become a blogger, or just become a better writer. Start with just 15 minutes a day.
For a few weeks, we're going to chat here about something called The Enchanted 15 Minutes, which will demonstrate how you can build your writing craft starting with just 15 Minutes a day. I'll end each post with an assignment--if you'd like to play along at home, DO! I'll also put a category on the side bar called THE ENCHANTED 15, and you can start any time you'd like.
The idea is that you can do ANYTHING--even things you don't want to--for 15 minutes. The other idea is: when faced with something HUGE the only way to tackle it is in small chunks. When directing or acting a script, you can't do the whole play or movie at once. You've got to break it down into chunks, or what Stanislavskians like to call beats. Even the beats can be broken down into a sub-structure. This concept pretty much applies to EVERYTHING.
I have three timers in my house. I use them for house cleaning, folding laundry, for teaching my toddler how to clean up. I use it for giving myself a break to read during the day, or if there is something I need to get done, when my little girl wants me to play with her. I show her--"Mommy has to pay bills/write this email/make a phone call/clean the office for FIFTEEN MINUTES. When the timer goes off we'll PLAY!"
I started doing the 15 minutes for writing in 1995 when I graduated college and realized I wanted to write professionally. Then when I became a wife--I found out about this system for housekeeping.This site advocates the use of 15 minutes for staying on top of housework. Having already used the 15 in my writing life I immediately recognized it as something effective so I began applying the 15 minutes to EVERYTHING (even labor during childbirth). Don't be surprised if you start tackling life in 15 minute increments once you start!
And by the way: you don't have to follow anything I write here--you can take the germ of an idea and make it into your own thing. As they say in another social milieu: take what you need and leave the rest. But, I will tell you this: there is enchantment in rules. There is power in submitting to a system outside of your own design.
So for this week, Writers, I want you to get a timer. There are on-line timers, and timers on phones, timers on microwaves. Any of these will do in a pinch, and don't let the lack of a timer stop you from starting your daily 15. But: it is better if you actually go out and buy A Writing Timer. You might even take an existing timer and paint it or decorate it to make it new. But this is your Writing Timer and should be used for Writing and only Writing. Look at timers and see if the one that is for you announces itself. It just might.
