How Bad Do You Have It?

I was listening to an interview with Stephen King and his wife. As much as I enjoyed what Mr. King had to offer it was his wife that caught my attention. From her sharing with us the night a fan broke into their home with a fake bomb strapped to his chest to all the interesting things they have both experienced through his writing, it is her acceptance of his writing schedule that I find fascinating. Stephen King writes for fours hours a day every day. He takes two days off a year, Christmas and his birthday.

At first glance four hours doesn't seem like a long time but when you put it in the context of everyday of the year except for two days than you see how impressive and grueling that schedule can be. I write at night for about three to four hours but not every night and no way can I do it for that many days. I mean, I take at least one day off per week. I do understand where King is coming from though. I don't believe he writes at that schedule because he wants to, I think he has to. Allow me to explain, if I am like King in one way I believe it is this - when I go for a length of time (about three days) I become jittery. I become preoccupied by a story or an idea that starts hammering at me to come out. The longer I wait the harder it hammers at me. I think Mr. King experiences the same thing. I believe he has it so bad that he can only afford two days to not write at all.

I'm not sure how much he can write in four hours but it must be enough to satisfy his inner muse. For me, I write until my muse is satisfied or my mind shuts down which ever comes first. I can tell you that my mind shuts down ninety percent of the time. To be honest, this devotion that is displayed by Mr. King is not a bad thing in any way. In fact, it is something we should strive for. Am I saying that we should  write for four hours a day everyday of the year? No, I'm saying that we should push ourselves and maintain a schedule that we can work with and be productive. How will you know when you have found the sweet spot? Your passion will tell you.

I do have one thought, does Mr. King count edits and revisions as part of his four hours? I would because that is a critical time in the life of a book and it takes focus to get through the edits in a way that maintains structure and flow. I have not had the pleasure of going through revisions and edits from a line editor but I will soon; I can only imagine that Mr. King would count that as well. Although, I would venture to say that he has a method down that allows him to write and edit at the same time.

In the end it all boils down to writing. Whether you are a bestselling author or just write for fun it is important that we allow our passion for writing to drive us. We should also be prepared to rise that emotion until we settle in with a routine, schedule, pattern that fits us best. No, that doesn't mean we need to turn writing into a job or a burden. It is a labor of love. When we have it so bad that it is a burden NOT to write then we are where our muse wants us to be.

One hour, two hours, three hours, or all day, it doesn't matter how long we write as long as we do. How bad do you have it?