A Writer's Prescription: 10,000 Hours

[Peg Herring]

Andrew's comment echoes a speaker I heard at Sleuthfest a few weeks ago: in order to become proficient at anything, a person has to devote about 10,000 hours to it. The woman added her contention that for writers, another 10,000 hours has to be spent reading the work of others. For many of us, the second part is easy. I'd probably logged 10,000 hours of reading before I was twenty.

I'd add that those 10,000 hours of writing have to be focused. A golfer spending days practicing the wrong methods won't improve. And a writer, like a monkey with a typewriter, will not improve if she just lets words spew from her fingertips. Along the way we must both self-critique and submit our work to others for criticism: agents, editors, and other readers. It's too easy to love our own children.

Reading and writing, 10,000 hours of each, help with the constant monitoring that a writer should perform, asking, "Am I any good at all?" "Am I getting better?" and "Am I developing a unique style?" It's a big number, and it might make you sing the blues, but to quote Ringo (and Naomi) "you got to pay your dues..."