My Job is to Stop This World

Thanks to my writing workshops, two concepts that I've been struggling with for the longest time finally, finally make sense to me. I'll talk about the first for now.

My biggest weakness as a writer is that I feel I lack the self-discipline to carve out my own time. I may have the urgency to write, as well as the passion to write, but the act of forcing myself to sit down and really write often eludes me. It is a daily battle and I often end up so pissed at myself, wondering why I can't balance all of these components of my life.

I finally realize that it's not about balance at all.

When you are a fireman, you know that your job is to save lives. While in the process of saving those lives, you don't stop and think: Hmm, I should make myself a snack. Oh, the phone's ringing; I should get that. Did I start that load of laundry yet? I should go for a run. I really need to buy more bread ...

Screw that. When you're saving lives, that's all you're doing and you know that it's your job to do so. You would never stray from that job and interrupt the life saving, would you?

Here's where it gets a little wacky. When you're a writer, it is your job to inhabit another world.

To repeat, it is your job to inhabit another world. And the only way to make that happen is to cut off ties with this world.

The second you answer the phone, you become that person in conversation on one end of the line. The second you make yourself some lunch, you become that person satisfying your own hunger. As you run those errands and start those chores, you become an inhabitant of this world and you lose sight of your one job -- your singular responsibility -- which is to inhabit another world.

Our job, as writers, is to make this world stop. We have to, we must, we have to have to have to, silence our phones. Silence our hunger. Silence our own nagging voices so we can hear the voices of our characters. Whether it's for an hour or three hours or eight, we have to silence everything that has to do with this world and slip into another world.

That is our job. It's what we do.

It's a crazy concept, isn't it? But also, how cool is that? When someone asks, "Hey, what's your main job duty?" I can honestly reply, "My job is to stop this world and create a new one. Just another day at the office. Just doing my thing."

Now that this concept has clicked with me, I don't think I'll be citing self-discipline as my greatest writing obstacle anymore.