10,000 Hours

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, claims that ‘geniuses’ like Mozart were not simply handed their genius status at birth, but in fact, worked really hard to achieve their status. Gladwell claims you have to spend 10,000 hours at something to become truly good at it, which is what happened in cases such as The Beatles, Mozart, and Bill Gates.

If you consider this theory, it could explain why there are no real ‘sudden’ writing geniuses. For example, the ‘geniuses’ who have burst onto the publishing scene with stellar first novels, aren’t an actual sudden success. They have worked long and hard to become this overnight success. In fact, it is rare for these ‘amazing first novels’ to be a true ‘first’ novel. Generally it is simply their first published novel. The writer has, in reality, been working at their talent for years and years and often have a stack of discarded manuscripts and accompanying rejection letters to prove it.

Let’s say you decide to put in your 10,000 hours. How long will that take?

At one hour a day, five days a week = 260 hours a year. 38.46 years. Gulp.
At three hours a day, five days a week = 780 hours a year. 12.8 years. That’s still a lot.
At eight hours a day, five days a week (remember, no holidays) = 2080 hours. 4.8 years.

Yowzers, it’s hard to get in those 10,000 hours, isn’t it? You have to live it, breathe it.

I’ve been writing for 2 ½ years and I can see the difference that time has made in my skills. Over time, they have improved dramatically. But, have I put in 10,000 hours yet? Not likely! In the past 912 days (2 ½ years), I know I haven’t put in 76.3 hours a week to make 10,000 hours. Say you put in your 10,000 hours, then are you a genius? I would argue, not necessarily. Look around a typical office. Is the guy who has placed himself at his desk day after day for the past ten years further ahead than that newer guy who lives and breathes his work? You know, the one who jumps at every chance to go to a conference, who reads work magazines and puts intention behind his professional growth?

Although I am not drawing in on 10,000 hours as of yet, I would say the hours I’ve put in thus far have been full of intention. When I sit down at my laptop, it is with the intention of learning something new, of adding onto my skill set. There is an unreal amount to learn as a writer. HUGE amounts. It isn’t simply about plot and grammar, there is the business aspect and the personal growth. Challenging yourself. Building on your strengths, working on your weaknesses. If you aren’t spending your hours with intention, how far do you really expect to go?

In the past two years, I have sat down at my laptop and read agent blogs, editor blogs, publisher blogs, joined online communities, participated in online chats with authors and agents. Made friends, critiqued the work of others, had my own critiqued. Mulled over tons of advice and integrated it and shared it. I have reworked a 300-word document over 60 times, each time bringing something different and new. I’ve written five manuscripts, each time getting better and better. Stronger, more succinct. I learn a new word everyday to build my vocabulary. I read books on writing, I’ve attended workshops and taken classes. I look up grammar rules when I’m in doubt. I’ve built two blogs and a website. Even when I read for pleasure, I am working on my writing, seeing how the author has slowed the pace, described something, built a character or plot. How they made me laugh. Their sentence structure. It’s all there. Intention.

I might be only half way to 10,000 hours, but imagine what I can learn in the next 6,000 if the first 4,000 are any indicator.

I can hardly wait.

Fantastic Chat with Literary Agent Jamie Brenner

Last night literary agent Jamie Brenner replied to close to 40 questions over on AQ. There were 60 members from all across the world popping in and out of the chat. Whew! It was a busy place.

And what did I learn? A brief synopsis is anywhere from two paragraphs to two pages. Women’s Fiction can be considered to cover Chick Lit, Hen Lit, Granny Lit and the like. Agents don’t really like writers who’ve gone and self-published, they prefer a ‘fresh’ face and a ‘true’ debut writer. There are tons of great nuggets including word count and specific writing tips over in the transcripts. You will have to be a member to read them, but seeing as membership is free, what is there to lose?

There is a chat with author Tommy Newberry over on The Knight Agency website tonight.  I think I’ll check that one out too.

Enjoy!

Literary Agent Chat Tonight With Jamie Brenner

Welcome literary agent Jamie Brenner!

Jamie is a literary agent at Artists and Artisans Inc. in New York and will be chatting with AQ members on Agent Query tonight at 8 PM Eastern. If you are not a member, you can join for free.

Jamie has been involved in the world of publishing for the past ten years. She has been involved in literary publicity at HarperCollins, editing YA at BarnesandNoble.com, and scouting books and manuscripts for major film companies. She is now a literary agent and editor of the fabulous website Girl Meets Book. Talk about a list of fun jobs!

Jamie is currently looking for thrillers, commercial and women’s fiction, literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction and books about pop culture/entertainment, but is eagerly seeking YA fiction and women’s fiction. If you are interested in submissions, check out the agency’s submission page.

I’ll be serving as chat moderator tonight, so come stop by and say hello to Jamie.

Cupboards

Ugh.

At least it the wind isn’t exfoliating our roof for us today. (Blowing the shingles to Saskatchewan.)

I came home after a few hours out and about to find that one of my cupboard doors wouldn’t stay closed. I fiddled with it before realising that my Mixmaster was in the way. Hmm. The top seems to be off the stand. Weird. I’m pretty sure my husband wasn’t secretly mixing something last night–or this morning before he left for work shortly after 6 AM.

So, I reach in and begin moving the mix master around before I eventually realise that the top shelf has broken at the back, tipping down and breaking my mix master. That is why the top was relocated to the front of the cupboard, pushing on the door.

So, now I have dishes and appliances strewn over the floor. (Miraculously, my vases are all okay.) If I had half a brain cell, I could fix the shelf. But I don’t. So I won’t. I’m pretty sure I will just shove all that sh*t back in the cupboard and enjoy my denial for the next six months–that’s about when my hubby will realise that the cupboard is broken. Although, he never discovered that I broke the cutlery tray in the dishwasher and that was close to a year ago now….

If I had to pick one thing to break in that cupboard, the Mixmaster would have been my choice. Why you ask? Well, because I already broke it. Sort of. My mom was right when she told me as a child, “Don’t let the wooden spoon get too close to the beaters.” You can guess why. I did bend the beaters back fairly well, but the thing still jitters and bangs a bit. Despite having a heavy, platter laden shelf land on it, the Mixmaster still works. It is just a really, really heavy hand-held one now. Its stand was shattered. Impressive, really. Any guesses on what decade the Mixmaster was made in? Not this one! And the shelf, why yes, it was built in this decade. That is why it is a piece of sh*t that can’t hold up some god damned dishes.

Anyway, after that disaster my daughter began to realise that ‘her’ cat was missing (and yes, it meowed at her last night around midnight). We called the cat and could hear a muffled mew here and there. But no cat. Eventually I found her in with the placemats. She had only been in there for about three hours. I’m sure we would have found her sooner if we hadn’t accidentally shown up at the closed library an hour early for story time.

It all worked out okay. We went out for coffee and paid the mortgage while the cat curled up on the placemats. The cat is fine. We’re fine. I am reloading my caffeine supplies, because let’s face it, it’s only a touch past noon and today ain’t shaping up so great.

At least the car doors weren’t all frozen shut today. But it is snowing and the metal part on my snow shovel is worn out it is breaking off and dragging around. Is that sad that I’ve worn out a snow shovel? Oh, well, it’s okay. The next one I buy will definitely break before it wears out. Why? Because everything is built crappy these days. For example, the VCR I bought at a garage sale in university is finally wearing out. The DVD player we bought, what three years ago?, is close to toast.

I throw up my hands. Take me back to the eighties when they used to know how to make sh*t. Sure, it was heavy as hell, but it didn’t break all the figgin’ time.

I think I need more coffee. Or maybe I need less. I’m not sure which.

A Day in the Life: Aspiring Writer and Stay-at-Home Mom (Part 3)

In honour of reading Water Cooler Diaries: Women Across America Share Their Day at Work, I’m sharing my day at work. Missed part 1 and part 2? Click on the links to catch it all.

Enjoy!

3:15 p.m. Get a chance to catch up with some of the moms while waiting for our children to be dismissed.

4:00 p.m. Home from the grocery store. Unload car. Unpack groceries. Repack warehouse-sized meat. The freezer looks like I’m preparing for an apocalypse. Lock retarded cat in the laundry room where the freezer is. She always sneaks in and hides behind the dryer and won’t come out despite my ‘get out’ actions. I’ll retrieve her later when she realizes what’s up. I saved well over $50 on discounts and sales shopping the two discount days. Plus, I have gifts for kid birthday parties. Who can say no to Barbies being blown out for $2.44? Stock up!

4:25 p.m. Everything put away, school backpack emptied. I think my daughter is growing, her big snack is almost all gone. Yesterday she got through it all and was hungry when I picked her up. She went through the car snacks and was still hungry! The Grumpies is the next stage, probably in a day or two and she won’t be hungry. She’s burning up energy on the Wii as I get everything put away and organized.

Check email. Comments on query from a friend—too many details in query. I know, I know.… Discussion on memoirs going on at AQ…put in my 20 cents worth.

4:35 p.m. Try to figure out how much time I have before making tacos for supper. I think I have a few minutes to tuck into some edits while my daughter pounds it out on the Wii. Some days she doesn’t want to play or get much attention. Yesterday was a mucho attention day and today the opposite. I mean, we haven’t even played Barbies yet! I think I’d better take advantage of it and do some work.

Realize I haven’t looked through the draft of my will. We have an appointment to sign them tomorrow. I look through and find a few errors in mine which I highlight. Also a lot of grammar errors. Should I be concerned? I have finally put down all my passwords in a safe place so husband can find them—just in case. Also need to make a list of investments, etc. We need to get a safety deposit box. So many things to do in order to be ‘prepared’.

5:04 p.m. Time to start supper.

5:25 p.m. Leave meat to do its ‘get tasty’ thing and log into Facebook. I realized the friend request I made to a literary agent’s Facebook blog may have gone through. I’m not big into Facebook, and often forget to log in and check things out for weeks at a time. I see befriending the agent as another way to get my name ‘out there’. It’s a slow build and the more I do before my book gets published, the further ahead I am—I think. My daughter and I have a discussion about Disneyland. One day, one day.

5:29 p.m. I am a ‘friend’ of an agent now. I feel so special. Tee, hee. Too bad she rejected me last year. She did give me some good advice—which I followed—in her brief reject. I’m a much better writer now than I was then. She is the last agent I queried—over a year ago as I realized I had to learn more. I think I might be ready now.

5:30 p.m. Hubby called. He’s going to be late. Between him and his carpool buddy, they have some pick ups to do before and after their half-hour commute. I think we’ll go ahead and eat tacos without him—when they are ready.

5:49 p.m. My helper and I sit down to tacos since they are ready and we know hubby will be at least another half hour. Something smells hot and I don’t know what it is.

6:05 p.m. We’re done. Begin clean up—what I can without interfering with hubby’s supper whenever he gets home. He puts in some long days, working at least an hour before he leaves in the mornings. I don’t think his carpool buddy lets him unwind very often. It’s all about the business!

6:13 p.m. Third time I’ve turned on the radio and Jack Johnson playing (today). Hubby home! Kisses. Now wearing medicated lip crap.

After I do dishes, I sit and talk to hubby while he eats. Our daughter runs around back and forth, back and forth, back and forth….

6:29 p.m. I tidy up and whatnot before going to book club meeting. We meet once a month. Tonight’s selection is The Glass Castle. I really, really liked it and am eager to hear what others thought. We will meet in the library and probably close the place again. I missed the last meeting because of a school Christmas concert.

6:50 p.m. I’m out the door and on my way. I get there a few minutes early. The book club is wonderful. I love it. Piles of intelligent people with lots to say. I can’t stop smiling I’m having such a good time. Some people felt the story was really out there and unreal and had trouble identifying with it. I took that book in my heart. I identified, especially once I could see others I knew, or myself in the story. I highly recommend it. Diversado by Michael Ondaatje is lined up for February and The Thirteenth Tale for March. I can’t wait. I already have Diversado and will have to interlibrary loan the other. I’m currently reading about 5 books, so I’ll have to finish some up before I move on to Diversado. I tried to think of something half-new that I could recommend as a selection, but I’m a few years behind everyone else, or so it seems.

8:40 p.m. Arrive home. Husband is reading Robert Munsch to our daughter.

8:50 p.m. Daughter tucked away for the night. Another late one, I wonder how late she’ll sleep in the a.m. Usually she’s up between 6 and 7 and comes to get me up.

Catch up on email and agent blogs.

9:03 p.m. I can’t decide whether to do some edits or go to bed and read. It’s been a day all about comments on my query and feels as though I haven’t done any real work—even though the feedback is an important step in improving.

9:13 p.m. Play around on the internet after realizing I wandered off and didn’t finish checking my RSS feeds. Whatever did I do before them? My husband has called it a night. I will follow so I get my snuggles. Why does he have to wake up at 5am? Why can’t he stay up later? I bet he won’t even let me read my pile of books. It’s been a good day.

9:33 p.m. I turn out the light and I start talking. Hubby just wants to fall asleep and not listen to me, I can tell. But I keep talking anyway.

10:00ish p.m. I can’t sleep. I thought of an idea for a gal’s piece she’s posted on AQ. It has to do with something I read in a James Frey book on character empathy and sympathy. I also get a HUGE idea on how to use something I wrote years ago. I’m pumped! I’ll make a blog and give it away! I’m still not 100% sure how I’ll go about it. There are so many different ways. If I’m going to give it away, I want it to be worth something to my reader. It’s all I can do to stay in bed and not get up and go back to work on these new ideas. If I get out of bed, the morning will be rough. Instead I try to relax so I’ll fall asleep.

74 emails came in today. 10 of them were email posts of the discussions going on in regards to my query thread on AQ. No wonder it feels like I didn’t get any ‘real’ writing work in.