A Writer’s Sacred, Boring, Unassuming, Sanctuary
Let’s begin with a thought experiment. What is the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word “writer.” If you’re anything like me, you imagine the likes of an Albert Camus with a life of great freedom, creativity, and ease of work. I mean, how hard can putting one’s thoughts on paper be?
If only this were the case. Anyone who invests serious energy into the craft of writing knows this is not an activity of free-flowing inspiration and ease. In his book Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller writes, “I’ve wondered for a long time why it is that writers hate to write. William Zinsser says that writers ‘love to have written,’ and I agree with that.”[1] In Zinsser’s book, On Writing Well, he shares a story of being interviewed about the work of writing. But he was interviewed along with a practicing surgeon who wrote for fun when he gets off of work. The answers they gave to the questions were markedly different. The practicing surgeon, when asked what it was like to be a writer, described a “tremendously fun” life in which “words just flowed.” Zinsser, on the other hand, answered with “writing wasn’t easy or fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.”[2]
The truth is good writing is hard work. The life of a writer is not the idealized life it is imagined to be. There is work involved. Hard, boring, internal-resistance fighting and procrastination mitigating work. Stephen King’s book On Writing[3] and Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art[4] provide an inside scoop on the life of a writer. King’s book is part memoir of his writing career, part advice on the craft, and part reflection on life itself. Pressfield’s book is about the artist’s enemy of internal resistance, how to overcome this enemy, and finding the true source of creativity from within. In this post, I will talk about two key ingredients to writing. Warning: these are very boring, uninspiring, and yet essential to the task of writing.
Showing Up
The first ingredient is the courageous act of daily showing up for battle. This is saying yes to, once again, fighting the enemy Pressfield calls resistance. Consistently approaching one’s desk, even when this is the last place one wants to be, choosing to sit and do the work, is key to producing great writing. King uses Anthony Trollope as an example of a writer who daily shows up to do the work, and reaps the harvest of vast volumes of books. King writes,
He wrote for two and a half hours each morning before leaving for work. This schedule was ironclad. If he was in mid-sentence when the two and a half hours expired, he left that sentence unfinished until the next morning. And if he happened to finish one of his six-hundred-page heavyweights with fifteen minutes of the session remaining, he wrote The End, set the manuscript aside, and began work on the next book.[5]
King, himself, says he aims for 2,000 words – about ten pages – every day.[6]Pressfield provides the example of Somerset Maugham, highlighting him as a true professional writer, which is Pressfield’s definition of one who shows up and writes whether he or she likes it or not, rather than one who waits for inspiration. “Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied. “Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”[7]
Focus
I am someone who enjoys writing. Actually, correction, let me start over. I am someone who enjoys being seen writing, and then having people I know at the coffee shop interrupt, ask what I’m working on, and be impressed by my regurgitation of profound wisdom exiting my mouth (but seemingly never arriving on the word doc). Interruption is a welcomed distraction! Afterall, I want to give in to resistance and stop writing. But, I have learned that if I want to reap the benefit of producing good work, I must get into my focus space, close the door, and ignore the distractions. The late Eugene Peterson, who is responsible for The Message translation of the Bible, was once asked to go to dinner with arguably the greatest star in the music world: U2’s lead singer, Bono. But Peterson did something no one else would do. He declined a dinner invitation from Bono (who would later become a good friend to Peterson). What good reason could Peterson have for declining such an invitation? He had a deadline to meet with his Bible translation. Later on, Peterson, in an interview at Point Loma Nazarene University, was playfully chided for this. The interviewer, Dean Nelson, said “You may be the only person alive who would turn down the opportunity just to meet a deadline. I mean, it’s Bono for crying out loud!” Without skipping a beat, Peterson responded “Dean, it was Isaiah.” Sometimes being a writer means turning down exciting invitations that, in actuality, are resistance in disguise.
A Writer’s Sacred, Boring, Unassuming, Sanctuary
Maybe we need to reimagine the life of a writer. Maybe the hip café, the free-spirited approach to creativity, inspiration, and work needs to give way to the consistent, boring, unassuming work of daily showing up, resisting the internal resistance, and focusing on the task. The writer’s workspace may be boring and unassuming. But, on the other hand, it is a sacred space where deep work and creativity happen. This is the writer’s sanctuary where she worships God through the work – dare I say, vocation – for which she is placed on earth to carry out.
About a year ago, my wife wanted to rearrange our office space. My desk faced a window. In doing my work, the smallest distraction outside that window would take my focus away. There was a closet we hardly used in this room. We came up with the idea of taking everything out and repainting the closet to create a work nook.
My writing nook.
In this nook, thoughts are free to flow, distraction is limited, and resistance is wrestled down. In this sanctuary, I worship.
[1] Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life (Thomas Nelson, 2009), 245.
[2] William Zinsser, On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction (Harper Collins, 2012), 3.
[3] Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft : Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King, Twentieth-anniversary edition (New York: Scribner, 2020).
[4] Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2002).
[5] King, On Writing, 152.
[6] Ibid., 154.
[7] Pressfield, 64.
About the Author
David Beavis
David is Australian by birth, was raised in Southern California, and is the Youth and Young Adults Pastor at B4 Church in Beaverton, Oregon. David and his wife, Laura, live in Hillsboro with their dog, Coava (named after their favorite coffee shop). M.A. Theology - Talbot School of Theology B.A. Psychology - Vanguard University of Southern California5 responses to “A Writer’s Sacred, Boring, Unassuming, Sanctuary”
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David,
If you had the opportunity to meet with Bono, (or an artist you would really like to meet) but it conflicted with a deadline for writing….would this be reason enough to turn this opportunity down? What would be the kind of writing assignment that would justify canceling with a “super star”? Feel free to pass on answering. It is just fun to think about. 🙂
David,
I want to ask you the same question as Kristy! We will all wait to hear your reply. 🙂
Great post and thank you for sharing your writing and nook!
I want to ask the question you raised in the post: Why is it that writers hate to write? Is it personality? Perhaps, perfectionism? Or maybe the feeling, “you have to do something” that creates the resistance?
Other than your writing nook, how have you overcome resistance in your creativity?
David, I loved your post! I thought you said your “key ingredients” from our readings were going to be “boring and uninspiring.” Somehow, you made them incredibly exciting, fun, and motivating.
Thanks for sharing your writing nook. I especially appreciated your last line: “In this nook, thoughts are free to flow, distraction is limited, and resistance is wrestled down. In this sanctuary, I worship.” Do you now find that it works better for you to do all of your writing from this space or do you still sometimes go to the coffee shop or sit in front of the window when you write? Thanks, David!
Awesome work, as always! I appreciate the volubility and honesty. I fight a lot of the same distractions. Showing up and Focus are huge and I also enjoyed these topics in the book. I don’t really like alcohol but I can convince myself that “anything else” is more important than something I am supposed to be doing.
I have a “prayer chair” where I can’t get distracted. I like to pray while driving and with people but when I really need concentrated prayer, I have to go to the prayer chair. Your writing nook reminded me of my prayer chair. It’s a “get down to business, no distractions, I’m going to knock this out” kind of space. It’s very nice, although you seem too tall to fit in it…
WOW! I love your nook!
How can writers create a dedicated workspace that helps them focus and cultivate a sacred attitude toward their craft? What is the first step for us to identify a place such as yourself that instills out inner creativity?