Gange on writing: "Eye on the Prize - PBIC"

[Mike Gange]

 

By Mike Gange

 

As a writer, I have reached some elements of success…newspapers and magazines mostly, some conferences – small, medium, and international – where I have presented my writings. I am now taking six months away from my occupation as a teacher to write. My goal is to write a thousand words per day. My major output will be work on a book. I have a publisher and a goal, hence the thousand words/ day. I intend to sit at my desk or workspace, a coffee in my stainless steel, thermos-style coffee mug that I got as a prize somewhere long forgotten and crank out my writing.

I find it interesting how many people want a piece of my time. Not my kids or my wife; I can never begrudge that. I mean those who come to me and say they need help with a resume, a newsletter, a web site, a conference brochure. It is probably the same when a newly minted professional sets up shop. I am sure newly graduated eye doctors get friends and relatives dropping in and asking for a freebie. I would think lawyers who open up their first office get old high school classmates saying they want a new will drawn up, but they won’t or can’t or feel they should not have to pay for the expertise or time it takes to do so. I am sure public relations professional get “invited” all the time to work on this or that campaign or opportunity.

I could not imagine asking Stephen King to help me draw up my resume. It might turn out much better or worse than I ever dreamed, if he did. On the one hand it might turn out to be full of narratives that simply makes the resume ring with originality and positively glow in the dark, making it easy for the interviewers to choose it over thousands of others. On the other hand, it might also be filled with blood curdling details, most of which are best left to operating rooms or dark alleys. It would be fiction of course, because that is what Stephen King writes.

One of my friends wants me to help him re-write his resume. How hard is that? Take a template, fill in details. The only problem is that this takes a whole afternoon, and a second meeting two weeks later to add more details that we forgot or overlooked the first time.

Another guy I know wants me to write a 700 w. piece twice a week, to promote a sports program that I am marginally involved in. I asked how many other journalists are involved, and he said none, they are all observers and lovers of the sport. I am worried about doing this because of the instant comparisons to my work and theirs. If my work goes into an e-zine, (and yes, many of these on-line publications could be lumped into some sort of on-line electronic magazine, or newsletter, so I still think the term e-zine applies) I don’t think it will enhance my professionalism or credibility to be posted beside something with grammatical mistakes or fallacious logic.  

In every case, lately, I find myself saying what’s in it for me? I know these distractions would be fun, but would not get me closer to writing my book, or getting a few magazine pieces written and published.

In the time I have not been writing, I have been reading “Writer’s Market: Guide to getting published” from the editors of “Writers Digest.” Seems they too have found a way to write (again) and a way to get published. They have some very good advice, broken into six steps.

1.    Set reasonable, measurable goals.

2.    Divide and conquer. Make big items small pieces, more manageable.

3.    Create a plan of ordered tasks.

4.    Select dates and stick to them.

5.    Work backwards.

6.    Make a daily to-do list and accomplish those tasks.    

Writer’s Market also points out that the biggest thing that separates writers from the non writers and dreamers is the word write. They don’t say it quite as bluntly as I do: writers put butt in chair and write. PBIC. And write every day. Routinely. Aggressively. Willingly. With a determination that it will get out. 

That is the same advice that I read from Joan Bolker in “Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day.” When I was doing a masters degree in journalism a few years ago, a childhood dream finally fulfilled, I read Bolker’s book. Inadvertently, I left a copy behind when I was at a conference in Florida. It was the library copy, so I had to go and buy two more – one for the library, one for myself. But that is a whole other story.

One of my classmates in that program said that his version was to sit down and shoot it out. Only he used another word that starts with SH. He said you could fix out the dirt and details later. I like the PBIC term better. Put Butt in Chair.

For me, a big part of the writing is the coffee mug that I mentioned earlier. When I get distracted by my friends, or the phone or the Internet, or the TV or the dog, I have to remind myself: keep your eye on the prize.

I dreamed of doing a journalism degree so I could be a better writer. I wanted to write a thesis, to be sure, because I wanted to be different, with some outside-the-box thinking. I am grateful that my thesis advisors saw my uniqueness and let me go off in an uncharted direction, something they called “ground breaking.” I wanted to have my name on a spine of a book. It is there in the journalism library now. I wanted to have the distinction of getting something published that others might use as a reference. It is nice to think some doctoral or masters students might be looking at my work, saying, “according to Gange (2009)….”

Now I am PBIC, writing a thousand words/ day to finish this book. I am not writing it out of arrogance or because I think I have some world-shattering advice. I am writing because it is another dream I have had since childhood. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to write this book. The fact that I am taking six months off work to do so says a lot about my determination, I think. I believe it is vital that a journalism teacher be able to write.

My stainless steel, thermos-style, coffee mug that I got as a prize will keep me grounded, and I don’t mean with coffee grounds. I mean, it shouts out to me “Keep your eye on the prize.”

And by the way, that’s a thousand words.

 

  

 

[Ryan Goble]

This was great - btw - it might also get a more receptive audience in the Poets and Writers group FWIW :)