Author: Dan Blank

A couple weeks ago, I bought three typewriters:

They were all used by the same woman who had passed away 20 years ago. I answered an ad for them on Craiglist and went to the home of her son to pick them up. He lived in a large house, which was now empty because he was moving. There was a small pile of furniture in one corner, and in the empty dining room, these three typewriters sitting on the floor. He referred to them as family heirlooms, and he clearly couldn’t bring himself to throw them out (the junk collector had left just before I arrived.) But he also couldn’t justify keeping them — they are big, heavy, and to most people, useless.

He was thrilled I answered the ad, and without prompting, immediately offered me a great price if I took all three. I agreed, and when I told him one would be for my 8-year old son, I could hear a quiver of relief in his voice. These objects that meant so much to him would be used again.

I wanted a typewriter for my studio to better understand the tools by which people wrote years ago. All I do each day is either write or work with writers, and many express to me how overwhelmed they can become at all of the apps and tools they are told they must master in order to succeed today.

When I looked up the history of these three typewriters, I noticed something. From left to right in the photo above:

• The Underwood #5 is from 1920, but this exact same model began production in 1900. In those 20 years, there were almost no changes to any aspect of the machine.
• The Remington Noiseless is from 1937
• The Royal is from 1950

What that means is astounding: for fifty years, this primary tool for writers had barely changed at all. I want you to imagine using a laptop to write your next book that is from 1968. Or a version of Microsoft Word from 1972.

Compare this to how we feel about our mobile phones, social media, apps such as Canva, or hashtags; where we are always on the lookout for a new trend. How, when you read advice on creativity and marketing from 3 or 4 years ago, it somehow feels outdated.

Yet, for more than half a century, the typewriter remained largely unchanged. The big innovation in typewriters wouldn’t come until 1961 when IBM released their Selectric model. (This is on my “want” list!)

I was looking at the cover of Stephen King’s book about the craft of writing, and noticed something that related to this:

He’s writing longhand, with pen and paper. That was not how he wrote all his books, but it reminded me that a writer with these tools — pen and paper — could just as easily write a book as someone who used a laptop. Evidently, J.K. Rowling wrote the first draft of Harry Potter longhand, later typing it out on an old typewriter.

You and I each have those tools at our disposal. If you are pulling your hair out trying to keep up with all of the new trends, all of the new apps, you don’t have to.

You can just use the tools that successful writers have used for decades. They are still available. They still work.

Oh, and my son does indeed love his “new” typewriter:

He keeps asking if he can write school reports on it this Fall. He and I have been figuring out all of the functions, and exploring how each lever leads to a gear or spring that makes something happen.

I spend all day talking to writers, and I find that many are overwhelmed with all they are told they have to do. Often, this focuses on tools and trends. Their heads are spinning from hearing things such as: “Have you heard of this app that automatically creates an image from a quote from your book and then posts it to three of your social networks automatically, including that brand new one that everyone is talking about — the one that an author used to become a bestseller?”

Ugh.

When I interviewed Dani Shapiro, she bemoaned that our primary tool for creating, the laptop computer, is also our greatest distraction. More and more, I have been focusing on how writers can reach their goals by focusing more on developing skills around their creative process that are universal and timeless.

If you are a writer, I would encourage you to focus on:

• Gaining clarity on exactly what you create and why. Focus on one thing with vigor. If you have trouble choosing because you have so many ideas, simply pick one and work on it for a year.
• Honing your creative process. Identify what practices help you create, and which hinder it. Experiment with new ways to create amidst your already busy life. Consider what tools and activities you can get rid of, instead of what “trendy new apps” you can add in.
• Connecting your writing to real people in meaningful ways. This means collaborating, reaching out to people who love books as much as you do, and having colleagues. You don’t need to spam the “like” or “follow” buttons to do this, in fact, some of the most effective ways don’t require social media at all. They involve letters, email, the phone, and a conversation over coffee.

Develop processes and support systems that actually work to move your writing forward, and also feel good. The ones that fill your life with a sense of creative purpose and connections to others, not spammy marketing trends.

Develop the processes and the relationships you need to create the work that matters most to you, and connect it to the lives of other people in truly meaningful ways.

-Dan

Craft comes first. But when speaking with writers, I often find that they struggle to create. They can’t get in a good writing routine, and other important priorities (job, family, home) distract them from writing.

Today I want to talk about how where you create can help you write more.

A year ago I took a big leap: I signed a lease on a private studio where I would do all of my creative work and run my company. At the time, it felt like a scary commitment. But now I realize, it wasn’t the commitment to my landlord that scared me, it was the commitment to myself.

This studio challenged me. I would have to live up to this space.

To do that, I decorated one wall with images of creators who inspire me. As much as I could, I chose photos of them in their creative spaces. Here is JK Rowling in a cafe writing Harry Potter:

Ray Eames designing in her studio:

Kate Bush at the mixing console at what looks to be Abbey Road Studios:

Alexander Calder in his studio:

Vivian Maier on the street taking photographs:

In each of these instances, the creator carefully chose where they created and used this to fuel their creative process. As I look across the room at them, I am reminded that creativity is a process, and that I must invest in it.

With your own writing, I imagine you simply make due with the space that you have. Perhaps this includes a desk in the corner of a spare bedroom, or maybe you have carved out two feet of space on a kitchen counter to place your laptop to write in spare moments in the day.

If I consider the goals of a creative space, they would include:

• Provide clarity on what you need to do. For years, I would write at cafes or libraries. There are many times that I would ensure I had clarity by turning my laptop into a machine with a single purpose. I would remove all other files from the desktop of the computer except for the one document I was currently writing. In my mind, this machine had a single purpose. It was no longer a computer that could do 1,000 things, it was now only a tool to work on a single piece of writing.
• Remove you from distraction. For well more than a decade, I have been able to have a private office at home in a spare bedroom. This space has a door that not only closes, but locks! Of course, my studio has the same thing. But when I wrote in public, at cafes and libraries, I would choose my seat carefully. Sometimes I liked the white noise of being right in the middle of a busy space. Other times, I would go to a library two towns away, and sit in a corner facing the wall. I would also wear headphones while writing, listening to music. The music would remove me from my physical context, and focus me on the task at hand. Headphones are also a wonderful signal to others that you shouldn’t be disturbed. Don’t just use earbuds, go and buy those big headphones that cover your ears! Author Tim Ferriss says that he will often wear headphones when working out, but won’t be listening to anything. He wears them as a signal to others that he is concentrating and shouldn’t be disturbed.
• Incentivize you to create. You want to feel a sense of accomplishment when you create, right? For me, I write using Scrivener, and it has this wonderful little meter that I can setup. I can choose a goal for a writing session by word count, and the meter will change from red to orange to green as I come closer to my goal. If you are ideating or editing, it may be more difficult to quantify results. Consider hanging a simple calendar in your creative space where you get to mark a big bold X on every day that you create. When I wrote at cafes, I would sometimes buy myself a treat if I reached a certain writing goal, such as writing for an hour. Brownies an be wonderful creative tools!
• Remove all barriers to entry for getting started. Do you write on a laptop that takes 7 minutes to boot up, has a desktop filled with 100 files, and it sits on a crowded desk with all of your bills, recipes, and mail? If so, that means that just to get to your writing means you are forcing yourself to wade through all of that muck first. Why put your writing space in the middle of a crowded jungle that has no clear roads to it? Schedule time with your family if you need to where you can write distraction-free. Block off that time in your calendar so that it is as unmovable as an important doctor’s appointment. Up above I said that I had to live up to my studio space. Find ways to do that in your own life — make your creative work an obligation that is as important as any other in your life.
• Have all of the tools you need at the ready. When I spoke to author Dani Shapiro she talked about how the tool that most writers use is also the source of their greatest distraction: the computer. People struggle to not be distracted by email, social media, or the news. Consider buying a used laptop that is just for writing. During a Mastermind session I ran last year, three writers in the same group admitted that they wrote on an old-fashioned word processor! Why? Because it didn’t have a web browser, and didn’t even connect to the internet! Consider all of the tools you need to create invest in them. For the first few months in my studio, it was largely empty. It took awhile to give myself permission to invest in books, supplies, other materials that I can use in my creative process. Each expense felt like a debate in my mind about whether it would have a return on investment. But then, I would look to the photo of Calder’s studio and see raw materials scattered across his floor; I would look at photos of Ray Eames’ studio and all of the shelves of materials that she kept in case she needed them; I would look at Kate Bush in the studio, with thousands of dollars of gear ready at a moments notice.

What difference has a private studio made in my life? I create more consistently, I create for longer periods of time, and I feel more focused while writing.

But what if you are someone who simply can’t carve out your own creative space? You work long hours at your day job, you have a long commute, and your home is a one-bedroom apartment that you share with your spouse and two children? Is a creative space essential?

Nope.

But I would encourage you to consider how you can re-create the list of goals above without a dedicated creative space. When I interviewed author Michael LaRonn, he told me that by installing a writing app on his phone, he would steal small moments throughout the day to write his novels 100 words at a time. He would do this while on line at the food store, while waiting for his wife at Target and in other small moments that most of us would simply check Facebook or the news. He turned distracted time into creative time.

Likewise, author Tammy Greenwood told me (here and here) how she would write scenes from her novels in her mind while waiting in the car to pickup her kids at school. When she got to the keyboard later in the day, all she had to do was put down what was already written in her mind.

Stacy McAnulty told me that wrote her first book one-handed, without punctuation or capitalization, because she wrote while breastfeeding her first child using her other hand.

In each instance, these writers developed a writing routine that worked with the resources they had at the time.

I’d love to know: where do you create?

Thanks!

-Dan

 

 

 

This week I saw a series of Tweets from author Delilah S. Dawson in which she tried to demystify the reality behind what leads to “huge traditional publishing success.” The entire chain of approximately 30 Tweets is amazing, but here are a couple to frame our discussion today:

If I could change 1 thing about my debut year as an author, I wish someone in power had looked me in the eye and said, "You wrote a good book, and you're a good writer, but we are not pushing your book. There is no way it will hit list. Just have fun." Truth > disappointment. 1/

— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) August 3, 2018

With my first… heck, 3 books, I spent release week watching Amazon like a hawk, thinking people would find the book, and love it, and spread it, and it would get the love it deserved, and it would become a bestseller. Sorry, no. It takes WORK. Tons of push. And $. And luck. 3/

— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) August 3, 2018

And the really important point here is that your debut book/series/year DOES NOT PREDICT YOUR CAREER. It's not any indicator of future success. Publishers know and understand this. Just keep writing the best books you can. Keep innovating without fear. Keep that hope. 14/

— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) August 3, 2018

I once went to a panel at RT called 'How to Write a Bestseller' and asked the authors, "What's the biggest contributing factor to hitting list?" And they looked at each other and said, "Whatever happened, even when it looked like our careers were over, we just kept writing." 22/

— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) August 3, 2018

Deleted a tweet and will rephrase it here: Your career isn't over until you stop writing. If your book flops, if they drop your contract, if they don't buy your next book– it's not over. Pick a pseudonym, switch genres, self-publish, hybridize. It's not over until you are. 23/

— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) August 3, 2018

Delilah talks about how our expectations of success can riddle our lives with a feeling of being let down. Instead, you must keep writing and keep sharing.

The Tweets above reminded me of my interviews with novelist Tammy Greenwood:

• The “Terrifying Crisis” of Finding the Second Act to Her Writing Career. (from 2015)
• “Risk is terrifying, but it is critical to finding success as an artist.” (from 2017)

I often talk to writers in my Creative Shift Mastermind that the sweet spot of your creative work should be somewhere between excitement and fear — to take a creative risk that you care deeply about. I think that is why I often go back to my interviews with Tammy, and why “terrifying” is somehow in both titles — Tammy’s career is amazing to me.

This week she released her newest novel, Rust & Stardust. On Amazon she already has 46 reviews with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, and on Goodreads there are 409 reviews, averaging 4.25 out of 5 stars. Why use numbers to describe a book? Because it is always wonderful when readers have their voices heard by leaving reviews. Because when art effects someone’s life is when it is complete.

Last night on Facebook, Tammy reflected on her experience this week:

Her week was spent with readers and working on her next novel. Her life is filled with creating and sharing, and all the magic that each brings.

What will bring success and fulfillment to your career as a writer? Filling it with real human experiences. Where you follow your own curiosity to create something special with your writing. To share that work in a way that gives it a chance at connecting deeply with someone. And to (hopefully) feel a sense of fulfillment in experiencing these processes.

I’ll leave you with the best advice that Neil Gaiman says he has ever been given:

“I thought what is the best piece of advice I was ever given. And I realized that it was actually a piece of advice that I had failed – and it came from Stephen King, it was 20 years ago, at the height of the success of – the initial success of Sandman, the comic I was writing. I was writing a comic people loved and they were taking it seriously. And Stephen King liked Sandman and my novel with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, and he saw the madness that was going on, the long signing lines, all of that stuff, and his advice to me was this: “This is really great. You should enjoy it.” And I didn’t.”

“Best advice I ever got but I ignored. Instead I worried about it. I worried about the next deadline, the next idea, the next story. There wasn’t a moment for the next 14 or 15 years that I wasn’t writing something in my head, or wondering about it. And I didn’t stop and look around and go, this is really fun. I wish I’d enjoyed it more. It’s been an amazing ride. But there were parts of the ride I missed, because I was too worried about things going wrong, about what came next, to enjoy the bit that I was on.”

“That was the hardest lesson for me, I think: to let go and enjoy the ride, because the ride takes you to some remarkable and unexpected places.”

Thank you to Delilah, to Tammy, to all of the readers out there supporting their work, and to you for supporting mine.

-Dan