The first word is hard. The second one is a little easier. The third? The third should be even easier, which is why I say to write it. Don’t worry about the first word too much. Just start. Let yourself reach the third word, then the fourth and fifth. Don’t spend a lot of time obsessing over the words. Just get them on the paper.
How to Get More Work
People get work for three reasons or, at least, two out of three reasons: their work is good; they’re easy to get along with; and they deliver the work on time. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
First, You Copy
The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that’s not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we’ve sounded like a lot of other people. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
I’m sometimes told my writing style has a distinct sound to it. I suppose it does, but it’s taken years of writing to arrive at it. My style did not emerge fully formed from my head. It took work.
Write Right: Meat, Meet, and Mete
In the past, a bear once “picked” a cave on the other side of a mountain “peak” because he “peeked” at the cave, and it “piqued” his interest. Today’s lesson features no bears, but it does pay attention to the homophones “meat,” “meet,” and “mete.”
Why Do You Read?
In a recent e-letter, I made a distinction between reading critically and reading for entertainment. I’m of the opinion that good books meet both demands, but I also recognize that one type of reading can occur in the absence of the other. I can read to be entertained. I can read to learn. I can read to be both delighted and informed.
You Have to Work on Your Craft
If you’re a writer, you have to work on your craft. You have to learn the mechanics. You have to study language and dialogue. You have to read other people’s work – both the classics and the contemporaries. You have to develop what Dean Young calls a “critical sensibility” that guides how you read and write.