time to write

Working on Leverage inspired and stirred up all those weird things in my brain that make me an artist. In an effort to maintain the creative momentum I experienced while working on the show, I went directly from wrapping my episode to working on this series of short stories I’ve wanted to write for a long time, but for one reason or another never developed past the beat sheet.

I have a routine that goes something like this: I get up between 8 and 9, grab some coffee, and read some news. About 40 minutes later, I eat breakfast, and then I start writing for anywhere between 4 and 5 hours, usually until hunger drives me away from my desk.

The thing is, it’s not non-stop writing for all that time. There’s a lot of thinking, a lot of wandering around (mentally and physically) and more than a little bit of goofing off online while I try to stay out of my brain’s way long enough for it to cough up the ideas. It’s easy to feel like I’m not really working, and I’m sure it would appear that way to the average observer.

In today’s Los Angeles Times, writer J. Robert Lennon wrote an amusing and very truthful column about exactly what it is we do when we’re writing.

Ask a writer what she values most in her creative life, and she is likely to respond, “Time to write.” Not many of us have the luxury of writing full- time; we have spouses, families, day jobs. To the people closest to the writer, “writing time” may seem like so much self-indulgence: Why should we get to sit around thinking all day? Normal people don’t require hour after continuous hour of solitude and silence. Normal people can be flexible.

And yet, we writers tell our friends and children, there is nothing more sacrosanct, more vital to our intellectual and emotional well-being, than writing time. But we writers have a secret.

We don’t spend much time writing.

There. It’s out. Writers, by and large, do not do a great deal of writing. We may devote a large number of hours per day to writing, yes, but very little of that time is spent typing the words of a poem, essay or story into a computer or scribbling them onto a piece of paper.

Maybe it’s a little too “inside baseball,” to be as funny to normal people as it is to me, but I totally relate to everything he says. In fact, I need extra time to write, so I’m taking June and July off from my columns to write fiction, and get Memories of the Future and the Subterranean Press edition of Happiest Days out the door (Happiest has been held up by me; I had a technology problem that seriously cockblocked me on my edit, and then I couldn’t find some important stuff to go in the book, but finally found it about two weeks ago. Those of you who pre-ordered and are tired of waiting shouldn’t direct your hate-lasers at Subterranean, and should instead focus them on me.)

Lennon eventually says:

The truth, of course, is that writers are always working. When you ask a writer a direct question, and he smiles and nods and then says “Well!” and turns and walks away without saying goodbye, he is actually working.

If a writer is giving you a ride to the bus station and pulls up in front of the supermarket and turns to you and says, “Enjoy your trip!,” she is actually working.

I have to apologize to Anne all the time, because while we may be in the same location, physically, my mind is frequently off in some other place, its hands filled with soft mental clay that it hopes to shape into something recognizable. There’s a line in Stand By Me where Gordie’s son tells his friend that his dad gets weird when he’s writing. I’ve heard my own kids say that, and if I can confess something real quick … it always makes me happy to hear that.

While I worked on Leverage, I had a beer with John Rogers almost every night after wrap. We talked about all kinds of stuff, from D&D to comics to our wives to working in the entertainment industry. At least once a night, John would point out how lucky we are to have jobs where we get paid to make stuff up and entertain people. I couldn’t agree with him more.

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84 thoughts on “time to write”

  2. I’m still waiting for the new edition of HDOOL, but I’m not impatient. This means no anger/hate/angst directed at you from me. It’ll be ready when it’s ready, right Wil?
    Cheers!

  4. It’s the same way with visual artists. I spend maybe an hour or two a day painting, the rest of the time I’m looking at stuff. taking pictures with my camera and my head. Seeing how the light falls, what colour shadows really are, why there are millions of colours of green. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and nearly shout “Oh That’s how to do that” and dash off an illegible note to myself about how to make the moon glow, or butterfly wings shimmer in that painting that’s been lingering in the back of my head.
    and when it comes together and is just what I thought it could be, it’s glorious

  5. I know the feeling. I’m always thinking of the next article I need to write no matter what I may be doing. Surprised more people don’t seriously hurt themselves doing that.

  6. That whole physical presence/mental absence thing is definitely something I deal with all the time. My mind is almost always somewhere else, whether it’s a world I’ve created for a fantasy or sci-fi novel I’m working on or the mountains of Virginia for a novel I’m getting ready to edit, or to the coast of Newfoundland for a novel idea I’m working on, my mind is rarely ever in the present.
    The hardest thing is explaining to people when you’re having mental conversations with your characters. Most people just look at you like you’re mad.

  7. This is always a huge struggle for those writers that have full time work, especially with companies (see: Corporations) that refuse to give any down time to jot down notes. I used to write on my lab coat when I’d get ideas in the middle of the night, then have to find a way to get ink out of white cloth.
    As much as I feel better that I’m not the only one that stares at the wall thinking about things in another mental language, it’s unfortunate that many would-be-writers will never make waves. Many of them simply do not have the time to devote to thinking or writing.

  8. Absolutely. I find that once I’ve got everything worked through and lined up in my head, the actual hammering at the keyboard goes like lightning. An easy hundred words per minute.
    Pacing up and down, walking around, staring at the bottom of my coffee-cup, yammering about some aspect of the topic, those all take hours.

  9. You mention being “off in another place” with your Wife, and I find myself in the same circumstances. Unfortunately for me and my wife, I don’t usually have an outlet or time to create an outlet for my minds creative interruptions. Therefore, they pop up much more frequent than they should, and at the most inopportune times.
    I love writing, and had great aspirations of being a screen writer during my college days. But, life took me elsewhere, and I still struggle to keep the creative beast from interfering with my family time and my current work. Unfortunately, you always get that call from the back of your mind saying, “you should write that down.” And…I never do. Maybe some day I will finally make time. Perhaps then I can see what it is to do nothing and something at the same time.

  10. Yup. The last time I was writing every day (too long ago now) I use to tell my wife, “Just because I’m walking through the living room doesn’t mean I’m walking through the living room.”

  11. Mr. Wheaton, you inspire me. This is something I’ve felt for a while, but only now realize the courage (and time) to tell you (and, by proxy of the internet, the world). I read your post on my mobile while on lunch, and composed bits and pieces of this comment in my head as I returned to my desk. I wish I had more time to just think when I can about what to write, but all too often my ideas are squashed by the daily grind. I’m not going to say I love you, but I will say I appreciate you and every post you make on this blog.

  14. I get the same when when I do random writing. I’m not a writer by any means but I love sitting down and creating stories. When I’m at work (where paying attention is encouraged) I usually space out and I can visually see the story happen in my head. It’s the only way I can plan out stories. If I can’t see the physical story happening in my head I can’t write it down, it’s kinda weird.

  15. Excellent, I write about this type of thing all the time on my blog on Tuesdays, where I’m doing a series on this. On using 15 minute blocks in busy lives to show up at the page, and to realize stepping away to do other things out of real life necessity (doing laundry, taking care of kids, going to work) or out of creative necessity (you need time to let your brain work) is also a form of working.
    This could also be titled Time Not to Write–which is to say, what Agatha Christie did: “The best time to plan a book is while doing the dishes.”

  16. I’m not a writer, and unfortunately my sisters stole all the artistic talent in the family.
    But you’ve brought me back to a very innocent place, just by writing 3 words: Stand By Me.
    It’s been my favorite movie for 14 years. In 86` I was two years old, so I discovered it about 10 years after.. This movie for me represents innocence and childhood and beauty and laughter. I can recite every line of it, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it. I watch it every time I need an energy boost, or just miss the good old days.
    I know the story behind the movie, backstage, is far less glamorous. But I didn’t know it then, and that’s what’s important.
    Thank you, Wil, for being a part of it. The cast is perfect. I can’t think of 4 other kids who would have made the movie what it is other than you guys. I miss River and what could have been.

  17. Oh, thank the Gods! I always feel guilty when I surf the web or stare at an empty Word doc when I’m supposed to be writing a D&D module. I thought it was a sign I’m a bad writer, but it turns out I’m just a writer! (whew)

  18. This post is spot on, but I think you have to expand the idea from writing/painting/etc. to any form of “creation”. Let me explain: I am a Software Engineer (not one of the more artistic fields) and the above blog posting could be very much about writing software, designing a circuit, designing a building, etc. Just about any endeavor that requires extensive thought to produce an output (be it words on paper, lines on a drafting board, source code, etc.) has the same affect on the person doing the creation (I am often lost in thought while trying to tackle some specific issue…”How do I…”).

  19. “To allow our loved ones to know that we are working when we are supposed to be engaged in the responsibilities of ordinary life would mark us as the narcissists and social misfits we are.”
    Oof, that’s so on-target it hurts.
    Having a full-time creative day job does not help: I have a hard time scheduling when exactly I’m going to be focused on any given project. Luckily, I’m salaried and have a boss who understands that my ‘work’ often looks like ‘staring out the window,’ fiddling with desk toys,’ and ‘looking at paintings at the Hammer.’ However, I respect this, and don’t work on my personal projects in the office. Though some days, I really, really want to.
    I have to admit, now that I’m divorced, it’s much easier to carve out time to write, draw, and paint. While there were certainly rather more spectacular problems in the marriage, I’ll own up to being less than generous with my time. Dating another artist helps immensely, because he knows exactly where I’m coming from, and doesn’t take it personally (and neither do I). Being with someone who also has a Nerd Cave is awesome, because I’m no longer constantly made to feel badly for needing time to create. You’re really lucky to have a spouse as awesome and understanding as Anne. 🙂

  20. That book rocks, doesn’t it? Pressfield nails it. I think I’ve given away about 12 copies of The War of Art.

  23. I always smile to myself when I reach the point in Stand By Me when Gordie exclaims “Fuck writing, I don’t want to be a writer”

  24. Glorious blog, Wil, and thanks for the link to the column. Now my wife will understand when my eyes glaze over and I only offer a zen-like smile and a nod that I am, IN FACT, working. Even if I’m not typing a damn thing.

  25. So true. My husband catches me with my computer two feet away and me pacing and doesn’t quite believe me when I say I’m writing. Some days I prefer pen and paper over the ease of a keyboard though.
    Wil, you are awesome writer!

  26. I have all these ideas in my head that won’t come out. Now that I find myself unemployed, I feel its a good time to explore them. I know I can do it but I just can’t make the ideas jump out of my silly head. WIl. I am really grateful for your posts. You make me laugh and make me feel better when I have had a craptacular week. Now, I must return to seeking gainful employment at a place I would probably rather not be at anyway. This habit of eating and needing a roof over my head is just too much work.

  27. Your routine sounds an awful lot like mine. Did you ever try to write while another person’s in the same room, on the other side of the table, also writing something? I used to do that together with my best friend when we were still university students and had to write loads and tons of papers. We’d sit opposite each other with our MacBooks – no, wait, it must have been iBooks then – take turns making more Latte Macchiato (or getting more beer from the fridge, depending on the time of the day), and we’d come up with fantastic ideas to enrich our essays (“how to include Schoedinger’s cat in a discussion of Deleuze’s time-image”.) I still remember our professor asking in the oral exam, “Wait a second. I didn’t quite get that cat part. Is it dead or alive?”
    As for goofing off online: One day we discovered this awesome M&M’s dark movies hidden in a painting game – anybody around here know it? You have a large Rembrandt style painting and 50 horror movies hidden in it, which you have to find and identify. Well, we were into film studies, so we had a reputation to lose. We and some other students formed two teams and competed against each other. My friend and me won – we found out “The Wicker Man” approximately 2.2 seconds earlier than the other team. We won more beer and a serious problem with our prof because we handed in the paper two days after deadline. But it was one of my best writing experiences, ever.
    By the way: Deleuze sucks. Never get enrolled into a film theory class. And keep up the good writing.

  28. I find that I get more accomplished when I have a rushed writing time than when I devote hours to it. Of course I’ll always complain when I have to stop–seems that’s when the prime ideas happen. Unfortunately, my idea spurts can’t always wait and can be not only inconvient but dangerous. I don’t advise working out on a treadmill and jotting down thoughts–I’ve a nice scar on my knee to prove that it’s not a good idea for uncoordinated people.

  29. I find that a beer on the ferry after work helps jangle the creativity loose in my brain, or in the morning before the craziness of the news business sets in. I write for a living, but hardly ever creatively, and it feels like a gigantic weight on my brain. You are an awesome writer, Wil, thanks for these posts.

  30. Yes.
    You reminded me of these favorite quotes on the subject:
    “Writing a novel is like making love, but it’s also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it’s like making love while having a tooth pulled.” ~ Dean Koontz
    “If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I’d type a little faster.” ~ Isaac Asimov
    “A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” ~ Eugene Ionesco
    “Writing makes no noise, except groans, and it can be done everywhere, and it is done alone.” ~ Ursula K. LeGuin

  31. totally agree with this in every way 😀 i seem to spend all day – everyday in front of the computer and the amount of work i get done is minimal 🙂 far to many temptations and fun things to do. one day i will master this time management thing 😀

  32. You know, I think the same is true of any creative endeavour – not just writing, painting and all the other traditional art forms. I’m much the same when programming – people at work often complain that, when faced with a blocking problem, I’ll often appear to be goofing off or just staring into space for an hour or two. The bit that they often miss is that in the 20 minute period following that, I’ll suddenly be smacked round the face with inspiration and start banging out code furiously, thus solving the problem within the allotted time.
    Yes, it’s risky to rely on it like that, but it hasn’t failed me yet 🙂 The key, I think, is that the human brain’s thought process is much like evolution – most people believe that it’s a continual incremental process, whereas both actually involve sitting there for extended periods of time and then making exponential leaps.

  33. A writer friend has a habit of typing notes while talking to people on the phone. I can hear the keyboard. I used to think that he was processing e-mail or something mindless, but the pace of typing increases when the conversation gets interesting and decreases when it is routine. He often did this in person when I visited at work (a bookstore) – another clue was that he would do this for long stretches of time without glancing at the screen.
    I suspect he was transcribing dialog to study or to adapt for a project (and from his writing, he needed to work on that.)
    I never commented on this because I didn’t want him to feel self conscious about it.

  34. I am lucky that my job isn’t that busy so I can space out from time to time and write things down. I guess I just don’t have the courage to show anybody any of it. I think that’s the other half of the battle, believing in your writing.
    That’s so funny..I was watching Stand By Me last night on CMT of all places.

  35. I don’t write in the sense of creating a fictional story, a work of poetry, or a touching/humorous/moving/etc piece of non-fiction storytelling. But I do spend a lot of time writing reports on subjects that mean a lot to me that one day I want people to read and think about. Most of my time is not spent writing. The actual writing of a paper takes little time. I spend most of my “writing” time railing on at length about seemingly unrelated topics that I get worked up on to the patient mr. angie k who politely listens to me and then goes back to his work when I’ve stopped ranting. But while I’m ranting I’m writing in my head, figuring out my arguments and what’s important for me to say. I also end up talking to myself a lot more when I’m in a writing zone or when I read something related to what I’m writing about. I always feel like I’m goofing off, but it helps. I get “weird”. One day I’m going to need an office all to myself where I can shut the door and be weird in private!
    Cheers!
    p.s. This comment is totally an example of me “goofing off” even though I’m still thinking about writing in my head.

  36. Hi Wil,
    Okay this is a little off topic… though I did get back in my writing groove over the weekend(I think in part due to watching Californication Season One on Netflix).
    So getting back off topic, I was enjoying Twitter yesterday, like I do, and came across your Bio on your Twitter account. “I’m just this guy, You Know?” and I felt pissed. Mainly because this is the very same Bio I’ve been using. I, much like you, stole this from Douglas Addams “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” (My favorite book series). Following my discoveries, I sent you a plethora of Tweets demanding Satisfaction, Apologies or explanations for your blatant theft of what I have rightly stolen. It’s been a day and I found your “What to Expect when you follow me on Twitter” post from February and as I read it again I realized that you too, like me, are a true geek. I realize that you don’t know me and that you didn’t steal your Bio from me, but like me, you stole it from Douglas Addams estate just like I did.
    Now since I’ve washed off the sense of violation from you I do want say that I’m a fan of your books, Blog and Twitter. Don’t worry about the Titter Bio, I’ll concede and change mine. There are plenty of other great lines in that book series that can describe me.
    I am and shall always be… your fan.
    @beaucifer

  37. That Dark M&Ms game is the most awesome, yet most infuriating, time sink ever. I love that game but I always get hung up on a few of them even though I’ve played the game many times.

  38. That is spot on. I can spend an entire weekend in front of my computer and maybe by the end of Sunday have a paragraph written. Of course I chalk it all up to “doing research” which is my secret code for “I’m playing on the internet”. I do, however, spend most of my day “working” as ideas tend to pop into my head while I’m doing mundane, mindless work…so basically all day while I’m at my real job.
    Good to know its not just me.

  39. I agree.
    I first realized that I wasn’t the only one who has this issue, and that it’s OKAY to sometimes, you know, not be totally there, when I read Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks.
    He talks about the same thing, except his example is reading the newspaper and sipping coffee and his wife reads him an article and he’s like “yeah, totally,” and then five minutes later he picks up the paper and says “honey, check out this article,” and of course it’s the one that she had just read to him.
    My wife totally gets pissed at me and complains to her friends, but, like Wil, I secretly like it too when she talks about that.

  40. No hate lazers Wil, it’s all cool. Excited about getting my book though, glad it isn’t just lost at sea or something. Good luck with the new project!

  41. Thats awesome. I agree, I write songs and I kinda go off into another place and put myself in positions that I havent been in to make the song sound right. And it usually turns out pretty good. And with the Gordie’s son thing, I ALWAYS find things with that movie or any other of your movies that are so ironic because of what your doing now. And I found out something today that I read in the book I’m reading called “Lost In Hollywood:The Fast Times And Short Life Of River Phoenix” by John Glatt. It said that the director of The Mosquito Coast had considered you to play the part of Charlie Fox, but gave it to River because he looked more like Harrison’s son. And I just wanna bring this up because it cracked me up, I guess River (voluntarily) lost his virginity while filming Stand By Me and came back and bragged about it to all you boys. I just laughed my ass off. And you like fixed the games in the lobby so you could play them for free. And a bunch of other michevious stuff. I didnt know you guys were so rebellious!

  44. And what do you do when you feel you are a broken artist (regardless of writing/painting/etc).
    That is my issue at the moment. I am so scattered and have lost my personal touch. I think it comes from having to do technical writing for so long and leaving my creative side in the dark for a few too many years. Now I have too many creative projects on the go at once and am so scattered.
    p.s. I believe I fixed the italics problem

  45. Hello Mr. Wheaton,
    To help further your literary ambitions, may I humbly suggest you (if not already) leave the computer and try writing long hand first? The computer is a very distracting tool for most of us and not the best way to compose. Another writer called Sven Birkerts likened a word processor to a type writer with a condom over it. Text can be constantly edited on a WP, consequently you cannot always organically grow sentences. Whereas, with a piece of paper, you can see where you have crossed out words and systematically develop ideas. Some call this proccess tedious, but when you see the net result of this proccess, you may find it rewarding. Get some pencils and blank sheets of paper–pretend you’re Hemingway, that’s the way he worked. The old masters may have been onto something. ; – )

  46. Wil, your quote from Stand By Me brought a smile to my face, as my girls (25 & 21) and I just watched it today (recorded from earlier this week), and I was thinking at the time that that particular line seemed doubly approiate for you these days.

  47. I had to unpublish a comment from earlier, because there was an open italic tag in it.
    Here’s the original comment, written by Sean Scott Macguire. Formatting has been cleared:
    I agree. I first realized that I wasn’t the only one who has this issue, and that it’s OKAY to sometimes, you know, not be totally there, when I read Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks. He talks about the same thing, except his example is reading the newspaper and sipping coffee and his wife reads him an article and he’s like “yeah, totally,” and then five minutes later he picks up the paper and says “honey, check out this article,” and of course it’s the one that she had just read to him. My wife totally gets pissed at me and complains to her friends, but, like Wil, I secretly like it too when she talks about that.

  49. I’m trying to remember when it last was that I read someone’s blog entry and actually empathized. Although I don’t currently have the luxury of (creatively) writing as a full-time occupation, I frequently find that I have similar “troubles” in writing at my place of employ. There’s the routine: coffee, a quick perusal through BBC, Twitter, my RSS–and then I’m staring longingly at my computer and wondering when it’s going to hit me. I’ll crank out 500 words, and by then, I’ve realized that I can’t actually write when my workspace looks as cluttered as it does. I reorganize, I Lysol, I replenish a cup of tea, and I repeat.
    It’s really no different than what occurs at home, except that it often takes more than ten minutes to clean my “workspace” (which somehow includes my entire apartment) at home. Despite the fragmentous nature of my work, that process of carefully putting things in their places somehow helps me organize my ideas as well. It clears my head and allows me to be “in the game” with my husband and coworkers–if that makes sense.
    I do, however, sometimes find that it’s necessary to dig out the laptop and bring it someplace without WiFi to really get something accomplished.
    For more adventures in idiosyncrasy, I recommend checking out the book How I Write: The Secret Life of Authors. It’s a bit of a glorified coffee table book, but sometimes there’s nothing better than flipping through the pages and laughing at the similarities.
    Best of luck, Wil.

  50. I suffer from the ability to get those 4-6 hours of straight “Writing” and it really puts a hamper on my productivity. I have been trying to write a story/script/movie for over a year now and I have had very scant hours to actually sit down and churn out the pages. I am a very fast writer, at least in a rough draft form, but I still require a minimum of a few hours a day. I’m lucky if I get one hour in a single day. Some days I get no time at all. I could give up my role-playing nights and some of my video games, but honestly those are the things that I enjoy as much and sometimes more than writing itself. I have a normal 40 hour a week job and kids to keep an eye on, so it’s hard to get the free time I once had in the late eighties, early nineties.
    I agree with everything you said by the way. I admire your writing style and think of you as a person I can draw inspiration from. As far as the act of actual writing being only a small part of the whole process, I find that completely true. I don’t know how many times I have sat down, with my limited amount of free time and in that hour or so, only actually written for a few of those minutes. Most of my time was spent deliberating and arguing with myself internally before my fingers even touched the keyboard. It’s like a mild form of writers schizophrenia. I have to convince myself what I am writing is going to be something good as I am doing it. Does that make sense? I don’t know, I think I’ll ask myself. That kind of thing.
    It’s a lot of talking to myself in my head and then a very limited amount of time actually typing out the words I want to string together.
    Great post and I love reading things like this. If you haven’t read Stephen Kings book on writing yet, you should pick that up and pour through it. It’s a wonderful book to read as a writer. He’s a master craftsman and the way the book is laid out really helped me think in different ways and it also gave me a lot of confidence to just get out there and write.
    I’m not saying you need any help Wil, your writing is awesome, I would even say masterclass, but I think everyone would agree, you can never attain perfection in writing.
    Anyways…
    Michael

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