{"id":7775,"date":"2018-01-27T02:41:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-27T02:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7775"},"modified":"2018-02-24T22:41:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T22:41:35","slug":"being-a-novelist-isnt-a-job-its-a-lifestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/being-a-novelist-isnt-a-job-its-a-lifestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a Novelist Isn\u2019t a Job, It\u2019s a Lifestyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in Decem\u00adber, after hav\u00ading com\u00adplet\u00aded the first draft of a 550,000-word, 1,600-page nov\u00adel, I took a near\u00adly month-long vaca\u00adtion (my first in years). For one week of the vaca\u00adtion, my wife and I explored Que\u00adbec, stayed at at a ski resort, and went cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading, swim\u00adming and hot-tub\u00adbing every day.<\/p>\n

One after\u00adnoon in the hotel room, I watched a New Eng\u00adland Patri\u00adots game, a game in which quar\u00adter\u00adback Tom Brady, once again, led the Patri\u00adots from behind in the fourth quar\u00adter to win.<\/p>\n

As a Patri\u00adots fan, I of course found the game excit\u00ading, but I was par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly tak\u00aden by some\u00adthing one of the com\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtors said after the game. He remarked how Tom Brady had recent\u00adly revealed that the rea\u00adson he was so successful\u2014even now, at age 40 (ancient for NFL QBs)\u2014was that he did\u00adn\u2019t approach his being a quar\u00adter\u00adback as a mere job, but rather a lifestyle. Every\u00adthing in his life, every deci\u00adsion, is in ser\u00advice to his over\u00adar\u00adch\u00ading life goal: to become the best quar\u00adter\u00adback he can be (which has arguably already made him the best in the his\u00adto\u00adry of the game).<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s state\u00adment real\u00adly res\u00adonat\u00aded with me because about a year ago, I came to a sim\u00adi\u00adlar con\u00adclu\u00adsion about being a nov\u00adel\u00adist. I real\u00adized that in order to become the best nov\u00adel\u00adist I was capa\u00adble of becom\u00ading, I had to make every\u00adthing else in my life sub\u00adservient to, and in ser\u00advice of, my writ\u00ading.<\/p>\n

The sum\u00admer before, in June 2016, dur\u00ading a 3\u2011week sojourn<\/a> in the Green Moun\u00adtains of Ver\u00admont, I had already decid\u00aded that, at age 46, I had to be a miser with my time; I now only had time for essen\u00adtials. But last Feb\u00adru\u00adary I extend\u00aded and refined this think\u00ading to include oth\u00ader aspects of my life, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly my nutri\u00adtion and fit\u00adness. I began a strict veg\u00ade\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan (some fish), no-sug\u00adar, no-alco\u00adhol nutri\u00adtion plan, and a fit\u00adness reg\u00adi\u00admen that includ\u00aded swim\u00adming, strength train\u00ading, car\u00addio, moun\u00adtain climb\u00ading and cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading. And for the entire year (save my vaca\u00adtion in Decem\u00adber), I was reli\u00adgious about this pro\u00adgram.<\/p>\n

But when I heard Tom Brady\u2019s state\u00adment about how being a quar\u00adter\u00adback is a lifestyle, and then when I saw him win his 8th AFC Cham\u00adpi\u00adonship last Sun\u00adday, I knew that I now want to apply my own ver\u00adsion of Brady\u2019s TB12 lifestyle method<\/a> to my life as a nov\u00adel\u00adist, where every\u00adthing in my life will be in ser\u00advice to my writ\u00ading. Put anoth\u00ader way, any\u00adthing that will hin\u00adder my becom\u00ading the best nov\u00adel\u00adist I can be will be cur\u00adtailed or out\u00adright elim\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded from my life. Fol\u00adlow\u00ading are the 5 key areas in which I am mak\u00ading changes:<\/p>\n

1. Health\/Nutrition\/Fitness<\/strong>. Writ\u00ading nov\u00adels is a marathon (and in the case of my lat\u00adest, epic-length work, super<\/em> marathon) activ\u00adi\u00adty. It requires bod\u00adi\u00adly endurance to write 1,500\u20133,000 words a day for months and years on end. So with this in mind, I plan to con\u00adtin\u00adue my nutri\u00adtion and fit\u00adness pro\u00adgram, adding to it this year improved den\u00adtal care, increased dietary sup\u00adple\u00adments and more rest\u00adful sleep.<\/p>\n

2. Low-tech writ\u00ading<\/strong>. For 25 years I\u2019ve writ\u00adten the major\u00adi\u00adty of my first drafts either on a type\u00adwriter or in long\u00adhand, then re-typed them into a com\u00adput\u00ader. Last year, how\u00adev\u00ader, because of the over\u00adwhelm\u00ading length of the epic nov\u00adel, I wrote most of the first draft on my Mac\u00adbook Air. Con\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly, I missed the calm\u00ading, med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive, rumi\u00adna\u00adtive ben\u00ade\u00adfits that come from my usu\u00adal low-tech method of work\u00ading.<\/p>\n

To rem\u00ade\u00addy this, I recent\u00adly ordered a new man\u00adu\u00adal type\u00adwriter, a 1968 Olivet\u00adti Let\u00adtera 32 (reput\u00aded\u00adly the fastest man\u00adu\u00adal type\u00adwriter ever made), and I\u2019m going to write all of my first drafts on it, or in long\u00adhand. Inci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly, the Let\u00adtera 32 was also the cho\u00adsen type\u00adwriter of two writ\u00aders I\u2019ve long admired, Cor\u00admac McCarthy and John Cheev\u00ader.<\/p>\n

My new low-tech baby: The Olivet\u00adti Let\u00adtera 32.<\/p><\/div>\n

3. Social media and the Inter\u00adnet in gen\u00ader\u00adal<\/strong>. Last Octo\u00adber, after a sol\u00adid 6\u20137 months away from it, I returned to social media to pro\u00admote my lat\u00adest book, Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble<\/em>. I spent most of Octo\u00adber through Decem\u00adber active\u00adly \u201cengag\u00ading with\u201d SM and adver\u00adtis\u00ading the book using what I thought was a clever, atten\u00adtion-get\u00adting cam\u00adpaign. I came to the con\u00adclu\u00adsion once and for all that, if you\u2019re a seri\u00adous writer, SM is a com\u00adplete waste of time. In the future, I decid\u00aded, I will be putting my time toward improv\u00ading my writ\u00ading.<\/p>\n

I also dis\u00adcov\u00adered that weeks of expo\u00adsure to SM and the Inter\u00adnet in gen\u00ader\u00adal had made me irri\u00adta\u00adble and had wast\u00aded count\u00adless hours of my time. I resolved that from now on I would only post on SM if I had major news to report, or if I was releas\u00ading a new book. And I would only go on the Inter\u00adnet once a week or so to check email and to research items from a list I\u2019d be keep\u00ading dur\u00ading my writ\u00ading ses\u00adsions.<\/p>\n

Inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, about a week ago I start\u00aded reread\u00ading Hen\u00adry David Thore\u00adau\u2019s Walden<\/em> for the tenth time in my life, and I came upon this quote: \u201cOur inven\u00adtions are wont to be pret\u00adty toys, which dis\u00adtract our atten\u00adtion from seri\u00adous things.\u201d He wrote that in 1845 regard\u00ading the then-new inven\u00adtion of the tele\u00adgraph, but he could just as eas\u00adi\u00adly have writ\u00adten it last year, regard\u00ading SM and smart\u00adphones.<\/p>\n

4. More iso\u00adla\u00adtion<\/strong>. Ear\u00adly in Jan\u00adu\u00adary 2018, I saw the recent doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia Type\u00adwriter<\/em>. In it, the late, great play\u00adwright Sam Shep\u00adard said some\u00adthing that made me rethink an aspect of the writ\u00ading life that I\u2019ve found myself dis\u00adcon\u00adtent\u00aded with on and off over the years.<\/p>\n

Shep\u00adard said,  \u201cI feel my great strength as a writer is being alone. Alone\u00adness is a con\u00addi\u00adtion of writ\u00ading. You look at all the writ\u00aders that have come up with some\u00adthing worth its own salt, and they\u2019re utter\u00adly alone.\u201d<\/p>\n