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LM: #360: You can write more than 2 hours
There’s a generally accepted belief that two hours is all the more writing you can expect to do in a day.
Just a quick perusal of Daily Rituals shows Carl Jung, B. F. Skinner, and Martin Amis amongst many who found that to be a solid day’s work. Hemingway would talk about conserving his “juice,” and allowing the “well” to fill back up.
Don’t get me wrong, if you can get two hours, that’s spectacular, but I no longer believe that’s all a person is capable of.
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John McPhee was one of the first anomalies I noticed. I remember reading somewhere that he was writing like seven hours a day.
But I’ve since learned that his “writing” involved taking notes, printing things out, cutting them up, and pasting elements together.
Now that I’m in the last 10% of my book, my days are looking a lot like that – free-writing, taking notes, editing, speaking aloud.
I don’t think it’s a 1-to-1 relationship in terms of effort and output. Like spending eight hours a day probably isn’t four times as productive as two, but when you want a high amount of quality in a short amount of time, it seems to be worth it.
As long as you’re mindful of what mental state you’re in, and what your energy and interest allow for in the moment, you may be able to write all day.
Aphorism: “Hardly any sentence, in public, comes out of my mouth unless I’ve written it down once before.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson
Book: The Age of Magical Overthinking (Amazon) is Amanda Montell’s analysis of modern irrationality.
Best,
David
P.S. Now that more than half the book has been released, I’ve briefly re-opened the Finish What Matters Preview Edition.
