When I finished the first draft of my novel, I basked in the warm glow of that success for, oh, a week or two, before I realized it was hardly finished. Not by a long shot. I mean, even as I typed the “The End” at the end, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. But you ignore the prospect of editing and revisions just for a minute. You look down and admire the view on the portion of Everest that you did climb, so as to not be beaten down by the dizzying heights of the summit. Still so far, far away.
In case you think I sunk into another depressed, “why bother?” stupor, I didn’t. As I’ve learned with this project, when there’s momentum, you have to keep going. Otherwise. Well, otherwise, you’ll be stuck at base camp forever.
And luckily, I’ve found some amazing sherpas who helped guide me through the next phase. The advice and feedback from the first two readers has been invaluable. So I’m still out here climbing. Sentence by sentence.
Thus concludes the extended metaphor portion of this post.
Throughout this process I’ve been both amused and flattered by the people who look at the mere act of finishing the extremely rough first draft of my manuscript as an amazing feat.
Amused, because for all they know it could by 70,000+ words of drivel that Snacks could’ve written by accidentally pawing the keyboard while trying to lick the insides of my nasal passages (which, coincidentally, he tried to do while I typed this).
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| He was unusually clingy this afternoon. Or maybe he was just looking for errant chin hairs… |
And flattered, of course, because for me it was an enormous feat. But I recognize that I’m just unremarkable me in my little speck of the world who set out on this undoable project because I needed this One Thing that was just mine and mine alone. It seems strange to be complimented for such a selfish act.
But there it is.
Anyway, for those of you who desperately crave that One Thing. Who have that persistent voice in them urging them to just do the One Thing already (you know who you are, and you know what the One Thing is), then just do it already, will you?
Seriously. There’s nothing inherently “special” about me. These things don’t happen by magic. You’ll never be visited by an ethereal muse who whispers the words or paints the strokes or plants the garden or bakes the cake or composes the music. Never. That part is all on you. Sure, you might have the briefest of flashes of inspired phrases that seem to materialize out of the nothingness, but even that isn’t magic. That’s all part of the work. The seeds you planted way back when you first set out on the journey to accomplish the One Thing finally ready to be harvested at the right moment. In the right paragraph in the right chapter in the right book.
And here’s the other thing, unless you’re Amy Poehler or The President or you’re kidnapped and held captive by fundamentalist drifters, nobody is going to ask you to do the One Thing. Not ever. Frankly, a majority of the world probably won’t even care about the One Thing. And that’s just fine.
What you do is you find the people close to you who will care about the One Thing because you care about the One Thing and you whine to them about it. A lot. And then they pat you on the head and tell you to keep going. And you do. Then you whine some more. And they roll their eyes and placate you some more. Just enough so that you keep going. And you keep going.
You should also find some people who are pursuing their own Thing successfully for inspiration. They don’t have to be famous, celebrity sorts. In fact, it’s better if you know them, that they’re like you, because then it will make the One Thing seem more possible.
If you’re really lucky, you’ll find yourself a Brad who not only listens to your endless self-doubt and grousing, but also tolerates the fact that you spend most nights chained to your computer instead of doing other things, like watching sports or talking about life or doing the dishes.
Never do the One Thing in the hopes that it will get you noticed by someone else. That you’ll make your millions from it. The only person who really needs to care about it is you.
And don’t wait, either. Because there’s never a perfect time for One Thing doing. Never. They’ll always be more work to do. Kids to raise. Floors to wash. Dogs to walk. Dinner to make. Friends to catch up with. Oil to change. Seasons and seasons and seasons of shows on Netflix to binge watch. There will always be the next thing that needs to get done until your very last breath.
You’re the only one who can make all the breaths before it count a little more.
Do the One Thing already.
In an interview with EW about her book “Yes, Please” Amy Poehler offers this fantastic little note on artistic process:
“I always had the fantasy that I would rent a cabin in Big Sur and that I would dress for writing and I would talk to magazines about how I’d like to turn off the phone and wear comfortable sneakers! The reality is, when you have little kids, and when you’re shooting a TV show, you hack away. I wrote it when I could. I had to let go of the idea that creativity comes out of stillness. I find creativity usually comes out of chaos.”
Yes!
This guy, when asked by a photographer from Humans of New York what he felt most guilty about, said not finishing his novel.
“I’ve already built the room where I’m going to write it at my house in Sag Harbor. The walls of the room are painted Venetian red. It has shelves filled with every book I ever read. There’s a scallop striped Victorian chair. A little pine desk – two feet by three feet, with all my pens lined up, and an 18th Century sang de bouef vase lamp. And there’s a French door with a step that goes out onto the roof so I can look at the clouds. I have everything I need. Except the time.”
If you picked out paint and furnishings and lined up the pens, well, you have time to write the novel.
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| And after I write all this motivational blather, Brad pointed this out to me. Touche sign. Both awesome and appropriate. You can buy it here. |
Don’t wait for your sang de boeuf vase lamp or your little pine desk. You do the One Thing with the tools you have (in my case, a laptop, kitchen table and modestly sized brain … nary a sang de boeuf vase lamp to be found!) and with the time you squirrel away from all the other nothing activities that fill a day.
I say all this with no pretenses that I’m an expert on life or art or anything really (except for maybe yelling at the kids to, for the love of god, stop screaming at each other over whether we’ll read bedtime stories on the bed versus the couch. I’m pretty good at that). If the frumpy, fur-covered, stinky-talking* stay-at-home mom from York, Pa. can finish her One Thing, well, then you can, too.
All you have to do is stop telling yourself that it’s pointless, dumb, silly or selfish to do it. Ignore your inner Stewies. Ignore all the people you imagine rolling their eyes at you. It’s not for them. It’s for you. Don’t worry about how long it will take you to do or whether it’s any good while you’re doing it. You’re the only person setting a deadline. You’re the only critic.
Drown all the naysaying voices out.
You only get one life in which to do your One Thing.
So just do it already.
*Lily has taken to guarding herself each morning from what is, apparently, terribly offensive morning breath. She’s told me that I’m making her nose stinky and that she doesn’t want to listen to my “stinky talk.” So. That felt pretty good.