Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

“Just as soon as I build my writer’s cottage, I will write and write and write,” said no one who was actually writing and writing and writing.

I am going to write and write and write. But first, I need to:

• build a writer’s cottage where I can write
• buy a comfortable chair that I can write in
• buy a better computer for writing
• learn to paint illustrations to go with my writing
• stop making lists of things I need before I write

I put the last bullet in the list just for fun. he he he.

I learned many years ago from some older people who had been through all these things. People who say these things are never going to write. Most will never build that writer’s cottage or do anything on the list. They will think and dwell and analyze and plan and dream and never do anything. That is too bad. They have the desire, but just can’t force themselves to do anything.

I think the horror writer Stephen King wrote something about needing only a room with a door that can close. There is a point to that. I’ve written essays and stories about people who went to the public library and wrote novels using only Google Docs on the library’s Internet computers. No cost for anything. Just sit and write. I seem to be able to write at home and at Starbucks. I seem to be able to write using any keyboard. I seem to be able to write regardless of noise, music, chatter, or absolute quiet. I know those things don’t fit everyone.

Write.

I don’t care if you have a cottage or tent or cave.

Write.

I once wrote a 300-page book that had 200 illustrations. I scribbled the illustrations on the backs of pieces of paper that had book drafts. The illustrations were awful. The book sold to publishers with those awful scribbles. I guess I was just lucky.

Write.

Frustrated? Write about frustration. Cheated? Write about being cheated. Angry? Write about anger. You are uniquely qualified to write about those things.

Write.

Have a great desire to build a writer’s cottage before you write? Go ahead and (you probably guessed what comes next) write about the desire to build a writer’s cottage so you can write.

Write.

Please, write. The rest of us need to read what you have written.