by writer Patricia Thrushart
The words ‘prolific’ and ‘writer’ are used together as often as ‘rough’ and ‘draft’ or ‘copy’ and ‘editor.’ The assumption is that writing a lot is a good thing. But is it always?
Examples of Prolific Writers
Should you strive to be like the Brazilian Ryoki Inoue? He holds the Guinness World Record for being the most prolific author, with 1,075 books that he published under many pseudonyms. Inoue reportedly wrote all day and all night until he finished a book.
Or consider Barbara Cartland. She was one of the most published of authors— with works being publishing even after her death in 2000. Now that’s being prolific. Another Guinness Book luminary, Cartland holds the record for the most written novels in one year. She wrote about 23 novels every year, with a total of 723 published pieces.
No discussion of prolific writing would be complete without mentioning Stephen King. He was quoted as saying that he writes 2,000 words a day. King has published 60 full-length works and over 200 short stories, not to mention his many essays, screenplays, and comics.
Isaac Asimov on Prolificacy
Another man of many words was Isaac Asimov, who wrote over 500 books, and hundreds of short stories. In his posthumous memoir, he had a lot to say about how to be prolific:
“The ordinary writer is bound to be assailed by insecurities as he writes. Is the sentence he has just created a sensible one? Is it expressed as well as it might be? Would it sound better if it were written differently? The ordinary writer is always revising, always chopping, and changing, always trying on different ways of expressing himself, and, for all I know, never being entirely satisfied. That is certainly no way to be prolific.”
“A prolific writer, therefore, has to have self assurance. He can’t sit around doubting the quality of his writing. Rather, he has to love his own writing… If I didn’t enjoy my writing so much, how on earth could I stand all the writing I do?”
“For one thing, I don’t write only when I’m writing. Whenever I’m away from my typewriter— eating, falling asleep, performing my ablutions— my mind keeps working… That’s why I’m always ready to write. Everything is, in a sense, already written. I can just sit down and type it all out.”
Focus Instead on Being Productive
Most of us will not be as prolific as Inoue, Cartland, King or Asimov, and owe the world no apologies for that. However, we write for a reason, and feel the loss when we aren’t being productive. In truth, I believe we should forget being prolific and focus on being productive.
So here are some tips, drawing from Asimov and other sources on how to be more productive: how to find the time and motivation to write.
How to Be a Productive Writer
- Find the right time (and place) to work and write every day.
No excuses. Every day. - Stop worrying about being a ‘good’ writer.
Just write. Get over your perfectionism! While there will come a time for revisions, getting bogged down in second-guessing every sentence you write is not productive— as Asimov points out. - Forget about fame (and fortune, probably)— write what you believe is worth writing.
You have to love what you’re writing if it is something you are going to choose to do every day. Otherwise, as Asimov says, how in the world are you going to be able to stand all that writing! - Stay accountable to someone— you, your beta readers, your muse.
Set goals, deadlines. You are a writer. Do the hard work. - Participate in activities that prompt you to write: NaNoWriMo, prompts from your writers’ groups (yes, you should be in a writers group), prompts from online resources.
There are so many! As an example, check out Poets & Writers— sign up for their bi-weekly emails with prompts. Write to them. Share them using their hashtags. - Keep a notebook, or use your smartphone’s notes capabilities, and jot down ideas, phrases, fragments.
Keep them— you never know when they’ll be just the item you needed for that poem, that dialog, that sentence. Like Asimov said, you are never ‘off.’ You are never not a writer.
So here’s to being, if not exactly prolific, a productive writer! Start tomorrow, or better yet, right now. Have other tips to share? I’d love to see other tips in the comments below this post. See you in the next writers’ group meeting!
