A Writer's Christmas List

There are a lot of things that I'd like to put in my letter to Santa this year, and like a lot of the best gifts, they are things that you'd like to have but don't really need.  Things like season tickets to the Milwaukee Bucks about three rows behind the visitors bench; for Time Warner Cable to work out a deal with the NFL Network; for college football to abolish the BCS in favor of a 16-team playoff.  But if one of Santa's elves visited me in a dream and said I could have any three things I ask for that would benefit me strictly as a writer, here's what I'd put on my list:

1) Time to write.

2) The ability to absorb the disapproval of others without it affecting what and how I write.

3) The ability to write and stay detached from the outcome of my writing.

I have a feeling that if I turned in that list to Santa, when I woke up Christmas morning the only thing that would be waiting for me under the tree is a letter from the big jolly guy that would go something like this:

"Well now, Jon, you've been a fairly good boy this year and I always keep my promises, so here's what I've brought you for Christmas:

1) Time to write: Now Jon, you know as well as I do that everyone has all the time there is.  It's merely a matter of how you choose to spend it.  If you want more time to write, there is only one way to get it:  stop doing something else you're currently doing.  It's all your choice, Jon.  If you were to go to bed one hour earlier each night, and forego that West Coast Lakers game, final Sportscenter, or great show on the Biography channel, you could get up one hour earlier in the morning when you are rested and fresh and the house is quiet, and write.  If you did that every day, you'd gain 7 hours of writing time per week, 30 hours of writing time per month, and 365 hours of writing time per year.  That is the equivalent of 45 eight hour days of uninterrupted writing time.  How many pages do you think you'd produce if you could do that?

2) The ability to absorb the disapproval of others without it affecting what and how I write. Jon, remember this: how people react to your writing, or the fact that you're writing at all, or for that matter, how they react to the clothes you choose to wear, has much more to do with them than it does with you.  No matter what you do with your life, or what you choose to write, you will find people that agree with your choices and people who don't.  The only person you need to pay attention to is you; more specifically, how you feel when you are writing and what you feel about what you are writing.  If you feel that you are doing the right thing, well then, you are doing the right thing.  You are smart enough to know this.  Trust yourself.

3)  The ability to write and stay detached from the outcome of my writing. Jon, of all the things you've asked for, this is the toughest one.  By "outcome", I am sure you mean the number of copies of the book you are writing is going to sell.  And while you are writing it, to stop thinking about how the story should go to so it appeals to the most people and thus sells the most copies.  The thing I can give you is this advice:  You can't possibly write a story that will have guaranteed appeal to everyone.  Can't do it.  Instead, honor the story.  Do you recall how you feel when you write a chapter that is especially good, or come up with a particularly compelling plot twist?  That is the story that is tugging at you to be told, and your reward for telling it is the deep feeling of satisfaction that comes when you re-read what you wrote and know in your heart that it works.  That is the only outcome you need be concerned with.  Everything else will take care of itself.

Finally, Jon, just write.  The more you do, the more easily the three things on your Wish List will come to you. And you will have the opportunity to touch the lives of people you will never know, and give them a gift that will excite them anew every time they pick it up.  Merry Christmas!  -Santa"

So how about that – I already have everything I asked for!  It's all about execution now.  I'm going to pin the letter Santa gave me up on the wall above my writing desk, and read it before I start every writing session.  And I can't wait for the next one!  Have a terrific weekend, and read something that you want to write down and tack up on a wall somewhere where you'll see it often!  Thanks for reading.  -Jon