10,000 hours (Failed Writer Series #11) from Yuvi Zalkow on Vimeo.
I’ve known more than a few people who have tried something creative a handful of times, not been pleased with the results, and moveed on to something else. It’s like they really think a) it’s that easy or b) that they miraculously have what it takes to start out strong.
I previously reviewed Ann Patchett’s wonderful essay about writing, The Getaway Car, which is full of wonderful points like this:
“Why is it that we understand that playing the cello will require work, but we relegate writing to the magic of inspiration?” … “If a person of any age picked up the cello for the first time and said, ‘I’ll be playing in Carnegie Hall next month!’ you would pity her delusion…”
Good writing takes time. Quite a bit of time, in fact.
While I always wrote, I’ve been at it seriously for almost 23 years…and I’m just starting to feel like what’s in my head makes it to the page.
That’s not to say I didn’t have some successes along the way, but it takes time — and not many people are willing to put in a couple decades (often with no pay, or very little pay) to finally reach the point of writing well.
What do you think of Yuvi Zalkov’s video? Does it really take roughly 20 years of effort to be a good writer? If not, what do you think it takes?
I like the video which seems to focus on reality. I’m not a writer but I like how the vid points out that some folks who seem to be “instant successes” have actually been at it for years. I do know it takes a lot of work, consistency and dedication.
Twenty years sounds about right. Maybe a little more, a little less depending on the case, but as a baseline… yeah, probably.
I tried submitting my first spec script when I was 14. While it didn’t go well, I got a very nice rejection that probably kept me from chucking it all out the window and trying to pursue a career in Being a Ninja. Because I was 14.
Mary: That’s the thing I liked too…that he pointed out there are few overnight successes. And while there are those rare cases of someone hitting it young, even in those cases, they are often surrounded by people who help them.
When I started writing seriously, I figured it would be a good 20 years of being serious about it before seeing some results. While I always loved telling stories, it wasn’t until 20 that I felt I had the skill to even consider treating writing seriously. And from that point, I gave myself 20 years.
In that time, I’ve met with some success and several close calls to much bigger things. Enough that 23 years into taking it seriously, I feel I’m finally hitting what I wanted all along as a writer.
Shawn: There’s still time to be become a ninja. Or…maybe you ARE a ninja and you’re just trying to throw us. (If nobody hears from me again, it’s clear: Shawn is a ninja!)
And on the subject of those nice rejections…those matter. Were it not for moving up from form letter rejections to editors taking time to make notes, I’m sure I’d still write, but I’m not sure I would have kept submitting.