Some Thoughts About Writing

From “What I talk About When I talk About Running”

Haruki Murakami

Focus and endurance:

Sit down every day at your desk, and train yourself to focus on one point. You have to continually transmit the object of your focus to your entire body, and make sure it thoroughly assimilates the information necessary for you to write every single day, and concentrate the on the work at hand. Gradually you’ll expand the limits of what you’re able to do. Almost imperceptibly  you’ll make the bar rise. Patience is a must in this process , but I guarantee results will come.

Not Capturing  Anything

Heart Advice – Pema  Chödrön

Take the whole teatime just to drink your tea. I started doing this in airports. Instead of reading, I sit there and look at everything, and appreciate it. Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious. Write less; don’t try to capture it all on paper. Sometimes writing, instead of being a fresh take, is like trying to catch something and nail it down. This capturing blinds us, and there’s no fresh outlook, no wide-open eyes, no curiosity. When we are not trying to capture anything we become like a child of illusion.

Best Sellers:

So, what makes a best-seller? There are a few key findings, according to the researchers:

• Successful books make heavy use of conjunctions—like “and” and “but”—as well as large numbers of nouns and adjectives.
• Unsuccessful works include more verbs and adverbs, explicitly describing actions and emotions—like “wanted,” “took” or “promised.”