Books and Marathons
Letters from the homestretch of book writing
Writing a book is like training for a marathon.
Long hours spent talking to nobody. Constant questioning. Does this make sense? Are my feet still moving? Will anyone know what I’m trying to say? Those shoes, or these?
Below is an actual note between my editor and I — she ended up liking the original idea best. What does that tell you?
As I’ve begun training for my first long run, I’ve found it best to apply the same principles to my running as to my writing.
Put. In. Hours.
Focus, focus, focus
Learn from my betters
Listen to others, but not too much
Listen to self, more than I think I should
I’ll leave it there for now.
Next week I’ll talk about the apples and oranges of writing versus editing.
-Jeremy