People ask me all the time how I write so much; if you think that sounds like bragging, please bear in mind that writing a lot is a very different thing from writing well. It is the case, thought, that I regularly handle a serious workload. I somehow have three books under contract (see my updated and beautiful professional website), I still have one or two freelance pieces that I’ve been working on, I produce a lot of writing for this newsletter, and I am pecking away at my third novel on the side. I don’t have any ghostwriting work at the moment but I’m in a network and could make space for a project if the money and situation were right. So, yeah, I get why people ask, even as I know it’s a little fraught to talk about my own work ethic in this manner. Please bear in mind that I remain an utter mess of a human being in many domains.
Anyhow, I typical resist answering that type of query, but I admit that this is because a) part of my productivity “secret” is that I’m lazy about everything other than writing, which includes responding to emails, b) I’m either guilty of false modesty or guilty of caring too much whether people think I’m bragging, and c) there is no such entity as productivity. (Rather than using your time asking me how I get work done, you could spend that time… doing work.) But I aim to please! And since I get asked so much, here’s some information about how I work. I will say upfront that my approach is dependent on a number of privileges that most people don’t enjoy, most importantly an unusual amount of freedom to set my own schedule and work at my own pace. I’m enjoying the fruits of a lot of hard work, and the kindness of others, and good luck, and I’m grateful. I will also do a desk update at the end since I haven’t since we moved to this house and I find the people who love desk setups to be endearing weirdos. Besides, this video has four and a half million views, so clearly there’s an audience for this stuff. Here we go.
Walking is thinking. As I’ve noted before, I spend about an hour and a half every morning on a walk, barring weather or injury or just wanting to sleep in. Typically I walk down the same road, grab a coffee, trudge up the same hill, then cross the same street to the same stretch of coast that I walk along before heading home. Sometimes I do switch it up, but there are several not-supposed-to-be-private-but-the-owners-act-like-they’re-private beaches around here that can limit my walking options. Besides, for this sort of thing, repetition is good, monotony is good; both walking and thinking are all about reps, and I find consistency is conducive to getting them. These walks are for exercise, but also to think. I just ruminate on whatever and, often, it turns into an idea for a post, or else I’ll think of a good angle to take in a book project, or whatever. I don’t know how I would do this job if I didn’t have a regular dose of pure thinking time of this nature. Yes, I’m walking too, but walking and thinking are the same thing. My phone stays in my pocket or, more and more often, on my desk at home. No email no podcasts no nothing. And I walk alone.
One thing at a time.