throw away the phone and get a dog

I think writing for the press helps in that way because you have deadlines and shit needs to be turned out and you can’t just say, “Where is my muse?” or “Nothing inspires me.” You learn how to “chew glass,” (as I say) meaning you write when the last thing you want to do is write. Believe me. I procrastinate like the best of them, but I’ve never been late with a story and when I wrote my book, I treated each chapter like an article that needed to be finished by the end a month. I paced myself that way so it wouldn’t seem too daunting. “I just have to write twelve magazine pieces,” I told myself, “No problem. I’ve done this before.” My twelve-chapter book was finished in a year. Glass got chomped.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

I took a writing class once and the teacher wrote this on the board. “If you are a writer and you do not write, then you are not a writer.” It was logic stripped down to its bare essence, and it stuck with me. Another writer once told me to throw away my phone and get a dog or cat. I didn’t throw away the phone, but I do have a dog now, and he’s the best writing partner you can imagine. He’s there when you crank. He laughs at my jokes. He’s there to take walks with when you need a break. He doesn’t judge, well he does, but that’s when I’m looking at the phone.

What’s your advice to new writers?

I know it’s easier said than done, but try to find a profession that helps you write in some way. It could be for a medical manual or a click bait news aggregator. It could be just copy writing whatever. Writing is muscle work and you need to be doing it often, not just as a secret hobby at night on your own.

https://advicetowriters.com/interviews/john-von-sothen