There’s a famous quote that goes, “If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.” It’s often attributed to Ignace Jan Paderewski (a famous Polish pianist), but no one knows who actually said it first.
So it goes with the truest of aphorisms.
For as long as I’ve been a writer, my practice has been inconsistent. And one of the hallmarks of that inconsistency is that once I finish something, even a draft of something, I stop writing every day. Sometimes for a long time.
That’s a problem I need to solve.
It occurs to me that I’ve had the most success with keeping up a good daily practice of writing when I’m working on something long. The longer the thing, the longer the stretch of success. This is an interesting observation, but it doesn’t fix the problem.
I’m grateful I started the Dispatches, because I find myself experiencing a healthy pressure to fix the problem.
So, today, right now, I’m recommitting to a daily practice.
I realize it’s Friday, and this isn’t fiction (ha ha ha), but I didn’t want to let more than a week go by in silence, and I’m not finished with my “Shadowloss” postmortem. Please withhold judgement, I am unemployed. Actually, you know what, judge away. I’ve got time. I should be writing more.
Hence the recommitment.
Anyway, the hardest day is today, grinding through the rust that builds up so fast. The words all come out awkward. Tomorrow will be better, and then the day after, and so on. Expect whatever hits your inbox next week to be more worth your time than this little missive.
And if you’ve got a creative practice of some kind, I hope you’ll harness the power of returning to it every single day.
Jordan
I appreciate the honesty! Also, you mentioned you're trying to fix the problem. May I suggest that there is no fixing the problem. There is simply trying again and not giving up, which you're already doing :).