Becoming A Great Writer Starts With This Practice

Aside from a hawk I accidentally shot out of the sky with a BB gun once, I’ve never gone hunting.

After seeing that first sentence written out, I guess it doesn’t even count. I think I’d like it, though.

Friends of mine who are hunters describe most of the experience as being ready and waiting in nature. They’ll wait hours, days, and even entire seasons before they finally have a kill. If you talk to someone who is not a hunting enthusiast, they might dismiss this as “sitting around in the woods.” And on paper, they aren’t too far off.

*Photo Credit: Oleh Slobodeniuk, Creative Commons

I think I get it though. It’s not just “sitting around in the woods” that feeds a hunter’s spirit. It seems to be about devoting all of your senses, time, and anticipation to one single thing. It is filled with purpose and intention. It’s waiting for an unpredictable moment that can’t happen by accident. It requires being there to meet it.

I see writing in the same way.

I see it as being ready and waiting for an unpredictable moment. The opposite of this would be filling my days with other work, objectives, and priorities and expecting a great song to just fall on my lap.

That’s like expecting a 12-point buck to just walk by me on the street in the same moment that I happen to have a loaded rifle and a clear shot. That’s just silly. Not to mention, I’d probably get arrested.

If you want something, you’ve got to put yourself in position for it. (tweet this)

I don’t think great writers or hunters are lucky. Aside from being gifted, it is their devotion over time that has made them great. And to those who insist they’re lucky, I’d argue that they’ve devoted so much time to “the hunt” that they’ve literally put the odds in their favor.

I try to put myself in position to encounter great songs as much as possible.

For me, this means looking at life through a scope; zeroing in on stories, truths, feelings, and sounds that I find inspiring. I take shots at them by free-writing, singing gibberish in search of the right emotion, and discussing & developing specific ideas with other writers, etc.

And if I hear a rustling in the bushes a hundred yards away, I stop what I’m doing and go over there. Most of the time it’s just the wind, but other times it’s what I’m looking for. It’s all about staying hot on the trail.

I love being in this position as I’d imagine a hunter enjoys being in the wild.

The scenery of writing is possibility, and the feeling of it is like walking somewhere no one has ever been. And while most days I don’t come home with a song worth repeating or anything to hang up on the wall, I do have the satisfaction and the thrill that comes from having been on the hunt.

NOTE: Camo apparel is optional, but not recommended.

Becoming A Great Writer Starts With This Practice is a post from: Storyline Blog