What Writers Really Do
J. Robert Lennon spills writers’ dirty little secret in the L.A. Times: The fact that we really don’t work all that much. [lf]
The Renegade Writer
If you loved the book, read the blog
Absolutely, I saw this last week and thought it was great. And all too familiar!
Way to go on the self-esteem sessions, guy! If I know the difference between writing and revising and thrashing around for sources, spending hours sorting through cheeseball low-roller ads, setting appts, changing appts, emailing with editors, and getting the cat off the desk and onto the floor–am I a little less of a useless narcissist? Hope so! But, then, if I spent all my tme writing, I would not have read this…sooo…. Now, I must think….
Hmm. It was written by a novelist, not a journalist; a writer, not a reporter.
Sure, we don’t spend all our time writing. We also have to do our accounts and admin, chase up unpaid invoices, research and send queries, follow up on those queries, find and interview sources and case studies, build relationships with editors and PRs, research new markets, research story ideas, and read, a lot. There’s plenty we have to do just to be able to get a commission to write something in the first place.
It would be nice if we just had to sit around writing, but sadly not.
I get wildly frustrated with a friend who, when I’m on deadline, makes comments about how it must be tough as I must get writer’s block. No. I just get source-not-returning-my-calls block.