Refusing to pretend there’s another way

"Inspiration is for amateurs,” says painter Chuck Close. “The rest of us just show up and get to work…” 

Oliver Burkeman.  I love his phrase: "The great kindness of Silvia's book is that he refuses to pretend there's another way."  

ne of my favourite books on writing is How To Write A Lot, by Paul Silvia, despite the fact that it's not really aimed at people like me (it's for academic social science writers) and although it primarily focuses on a single piece of advice, which is that you need a schedule. It needn't be an onerous schedule; you don't have to write every day, or for many hours at a time, or anything like that. But, Silvia insists, you do need a schedule

Patiently, he bats away objection after objection: What if I'm too busy to write except on Tuesdays and Saturdays? Then schedule your writing for Tuesdays and Saturdays. What if I need to do more research before I can begin? Treat research as part of writing, and do it at the scheduled time. What if I really need a new desk/chair/computer? Fine – but start your schedule right away anyhow, and deal with those things in parallel. What if I'm the kind of person who hates schedules? That's OK! You. Are. Valid. But (and you can probably see where this is going) you still need a schedule.

As it happens, I'm not personally convinced that literally everyone needs a schedule in order to make progress in writing or similar work. But what I admire about Silvia is his amiable yet implacable stubbornness. He knows that for a huge proportion of people, "you need a schedule" is precisely the right advice, yet that they'll still invest a massive amount of energy coming up with reasons why they shouldn't make one. They want him to unveil some productivity technique that's newer and shinier, and preferably easier to implement – one that doesn't seem to condemn them to month after month of plodding, incremental forward motion. The great kindness of Silvia's book is that he refuses to pretend there is one.