{"id":1286,"date":"2010-03-28T23:16:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T04:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2010-03-28T23:16:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T04:16:05","slug":"monday-motivation-learning-as-you-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2010\/03\/28\/monday-motivation-learning-as-you-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Motivation: Learning as You Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”
\n– E.L. Doctorow<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Writing well takes time to learn. One doesn’t sit down for a couple weeks and suddenly produce a bestseller.<\/p>\n

The time needed to produce 85,000 words of even bad writing takes longer than it takes most skilled painters to finish a work of art.<\/p>\n

I can teach most people reading this the basics of juggling inside 30 minutes, but learning the basics of writing takes much longer.<\/p>\n

There aren’t too many shortcuts — There’s not a very fast learning curve.<\/p>\n

You really do start with nothing and learn as you go.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

While Doctorow’s quote seems to be about learning how to write, it can also apply to the act <\/em>of writing.<\/p>\n

Some writers love spending time creating individual character sheets, down to knowing what kind of soap the characters use.<\/p>\n

I know writers who can’t begin one word toward their manuscript until they have a very detailed outline done. They find maps, gather photos, and accumulate a pile of information so they are ready when they start writing.<\/p>\n

They learn as they go<\/em> in that gathering stage. When it’s time to write, they know exactly where they’re going.<\/p>\n

I’m the kind of writer who gets a vague idea and jumps in head first. Sometimes I’m under so long that I run out of breath and think, “That’s it — I’m drowning this time!” But then I find a reserve bit of air, or find a way to kick my way to the surface and see that it all makes sense.<\/p>\n

I take the line in this quote about exploring to heart. I like being surprised by the story; with little more than a beginning, a middle, and an end, I learn about the story as I’m writing it.<\/p>\n

I love seeing it all eventually come together…or fall apart and realize I still have a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Whether you’re taking another big step in honing your craft, gathering all you need to get started, or knocking out a chunk of a story that you’re still not completely sure of, I hope you learn some great things this week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” – E.L. Doctorow *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 * Writing well takes time to learn. One doesn’t sit down for a couple weeks and suddenly produce a bestseller. The time needed to produce 85,000 words of even bad writing takes longer than it takes most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[24,60,23,29,4],"tags":[67,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}