A Look at My Summer

This summer is the first time I've set a schedule for myself in regards to reading and writing. It's as true for music and sports as it is for writing that the only way to improve at something is to practice every day. Many of the best and most prolific writers, from writers that I love like Terry Pratchett to writers that I hate like Ernest Hemingway, got to their level of skill by writing every single day. Granted, not every great author wrote every day, but most of the ones that offer advice on how to become a better writer list that as the first step.

I always knew I had to do it, but I just never did. Unaccustomed as I have been to scheduling my own free time, I've generally written just whenever I felt like it, which is both a good way to ensure that nothing gets written and a great way to not get any better. So this summer, at the advice of my father and my brother (along with some words from Neil Gaiman bouncing around in my head), I decided to set up a regimen of sorts that both offers flexibility yet ensures that I will read and write every day.

Each morning, I read for at least one hour by 11:00 am. If I start too late to allow for an hour by 11:00, then I read for two hours. After I read, I write at least 400 words before using the computer for anything else.  I should state that this is a great way of ensuring that I will write, seeing as most of my favorite time wasters require computer use. Additionally, I update this blog Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I did miss this Friday, but I figure a one-day delay is not the end of the world. I also seek to send things out for publication weekly. This one is a bit harder to manage, seeing as I still get rather intimidated by the process. But it is something I can and will do, in spite of the anxiety.

Of further note is that July is Flash Fiction Month. A friend of mine told me about this. Similar to National Novel Writing Month, where participants attempt to write a fifty-thousand word novel during the month of November, Flash Fiction Month participants write a piece of Flash Fiction every day for the month of July. Flash Fiction, for those who don't know, is typically defined as a short short story that is under one thousand words. I've actually managed pretty well! It's an especially great way for me to practice writing Flash Fiction and prose fiction in general, which I have found difficult in the past. I won't write a masterpiece every day, but every bit of practice helps.

Writing is an acquired skill. I distinctly remember teaching myself to write eight years ago, and I will continue to teach myself to write for as long as I live. And the only way to really do this is to practice.