I’m really curious how long it really takes for a writer to write a page, approximately 500 words. Do they simply let their minds wander from one word to another, sifting through the vivid landscape of their unconscious, the words flowing out and down through the fingers, etched in living color, or black and white actually, on the page. Or do they slowly knock the words out, painfully, one by one by one. I can easily imagine that, as it always seems to be, it’s a combination of the two.
And anyways, how can one simply blab on and on and on. What are the hidden secrets to allowing the tap to open, pouring forth the verbal elixir, not too strong on the similies, just enough weight to the character development. And what of the metaphors, are they pulled out of the goblet of inventiveness, already shiny as a robot’s head, or are they crafted, with much tossing and turning in the sad, drowning sleep of writing, the stretching ever inwards, grasping not really at words, but at the meaning that’s forever tied down to the cardboardy ephemeral smell of language, tied down.
I think that so far, looking at my paragraph from above, it seems like a few acres of nicely rowed gardens viewed from a plane in the white cloud above—that I’ve so far completed about 234 words, give or take 10 or so. So it’s taken me 7 minutes to complete nearly half of a normal page, and I’d need only about 8 or 9 minutes more to actually complete one page. That’s a total of 15 to 16 minutes! Imagine that. 16 minutes and already one page. Just do one of those a day—the same amount of time I spend changing diapers—and within a short year, I’d be able to finish a book. I’d, mind you, need at least 2 or 3 more minutes to make sure the page was a fresh, and well scented one, smelling of Africa and moist forest air and bird song, the kind I need to write to create the story that burns down below.
And perhaps it’s possible. I know so many people far less driven have been able to complete millions of terrible books. Millions! And more than a few excellent ones. I only need about one excellent book from this pen of mine. So, how many words are we up to anyway, enough to fill the advertisement on the back of a Coke can? Enough to fill out the animal descriptions on one of those paper mats at a Chinese restaurant. Enough to create a book of magic tricks, the size that one would create for a small child, safety messages included of course—I’m truly a Dad now.
So it stands at 10:14 PM, and so far 13 minutes have elapsed. I have about 80 words and about 2 minutes to complete my page, if I want to finish on time. But perhaps it doesn’t matter, the 16 minute deadline and all. I could stretch comfortably to 17. Not a care in the world. How many now? I think I’ll check. 527—can you believe it.
15 Minutes.