Lita Kurth
A Schedule to Fit Your Personality
Following the advice of many writers, I set myself a goal of writing a certain number of hours a day. Butt in chair no matter what! At least an hour a day was the rule, and if I had four free hours, by God, I had to write and rewrite for four hours.
I got fierce and rigid and sat there like a kid in front of canned spinach while a great ennui came over me. I’d write, rewrite, worry, write, rewrite. When I came back to the work, I’d see I had made it worse, not better, and completely wasted those hours. Then I felt incompetent.
What I gleaned, after tremendous frustration, was that my particular creative self does not respond to the whip. I know all too well how to put my head down, disregard my feelings, and get things done. Force, force, force. Unfortunately, that inner puritan is not creative. She’s only good for grammar and punctuation.
I began to suspect that people who talked so fiercely about butt-in-chair were socializers, pleasurizers, the kind who think nothing of going off for a weekend to, well, what do those kinds of people do? Play golf? Spend all day on the sand drinking wine and reading trashy novels. Maybe not even reading? Maybe just lying there? (Shiver of horror!) Since I am a workhorse, I can only guess.
After too many forced-march writing days, I was so empty I not only didn’t like writing; I didn’t even like life. What I realized was that I needed to stop being a drill instructor. For me, fierce whip-cracking was destructive. My muse needed time to muse, to muddle, to meander.
So (and this is within reach of almost everyone), when I had had enough, I’d go to a little free museum, and stroll, take photos, let in the paintings and photos, wander the forested grounds, scrutinizing sculptures and watching birds.
Then I’d head to the little city-workers cafeteria nearby and order a cup of their cheap mediocre coffee, adding a treat that was obviously resold from Costco. And I would feel grateful, even—and I know this sounds ludicrous—magnificent. While sitting there, I might see a gesture or overhear a conversation I could use in my novel. Or maybe I’d write a poem or get an idea for a flash fiction.
Every writer needs to find her individual rhythm. Now I share with students a variety of approaches so that they won’t be burdened by the prescriptions of personalities unlike theirs: look for a submission deadline and write to the deadline; write to have something for your writers’ group; have one schedule for your first book and a completely different schedule for the next one; write on the train/bus to work; write a first draft by voice-texting an email to yourself (then cut and paste it into a document); quit your novel for six months and write poetry; go back, then quit for another year; teach writing and write while your students do. I especially love E. Annie Proulx’s approach. Reportedly, she only writes when she feels like it. Have you ever tried writing for just five minutes or starting with a description of what’s outside your window? Or, of course, you could always buy and use my book of creative writing prompts at a writer’s party (as I just did this weekend): One Creative Writing Prompt a Day: a journal to build your craft and unlock your inner storyteller.
Lita Kurth, MFA—Rainier Writers Workshop (PLU), has published in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is the author of One Creative Writing Prompt a Day: a journal to build your craft … (Callisto 2024) and has received multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations. She co-founded San Jose’s literary reading series, Flash Fiction Forum and won the Diana Woods Memorial Award from Lunchticket. She has taught creative writing at De Anza College and in private workshops. Member, Working Class Studies Association. Sample publications: The Millions, Atticus Review, Lunchticket, Brain, Child, Main Street Rag, Cherry Tree, Concis, Rappahannock Review. https://litakurth.substack.com/
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