It was one of those weeks when I read lots of status updates and tweets about writers napping, Netflix binging, and being sent to Facebook jail
Maybe all these updates get me testy because I don’t have the luxury of napping-Netflixing-FaceBooking. ( Although my students would like it. ) Maybe it’s because I struggle to squeeze out every drop of writing time I can into my too-much-to-do day. Maybe it’s because I’m jealous. Or maybe it’s because even it I could nap ( on a weekend ) my characters and plot are shouting at me.
Writing time is valuable and precious. Don’t squander it. You don’t know what trouble and difficulties tomorrow will bring that keep you from writing.
So with apologies to poet Robert Herrick, here’s my advice to writers.
To the Writers, Too Much Waste of Time
Gather ye stories while ye may
Writing Time is fleeting
And the plot ideas that smile today
Tomorrow you’ll be deleting.
The glorious Dream of Publishing your book,
The harder it’s a-getting
The sooner you revise that first draft gobbledygook
The closer an agent’s accepting.
That time to write which is the best,
When ideas and passion are hot:
But doubt, delay, or too much stress
Time succeeds to rot.
Then be not coy, but write your novel,
And while ye type, be smitten
For if wasting hours on a social media debacle
Your novel will be forever unwritten.
Thanks for this. So true, so obvious but powerful to see it in print. If you allow it to, especially in an election cycle, social media will rob you of so much you’ve planned to write and readers need to read!
Watching the debates is definitely an amusing time sucker.