The quality of people my book program (and employer), Creator Institute, convinces to get to talk to us about their fields of expertise, whether that is writing, mental health, hostage negotiation, or marketing, is amazing to me. This past week it was Arianna Huffington. She didn’t have a lot of time to spare – just 15 minutes – but she was gracious with her advice and her humor, and it was worth the little time we had to spend with her.
She had quite a few key insights on writing and how to do it well, so here are a few:
-> “Finding the humor in the darkness often helps us.” This is definitely true in my family. We’re most likely laughing at the most inopportune moments. The Christmas 7 days after my grandfather passed was one of the most raucous celebrations we ever had. We often find solace in laughter, because you can’t cry all the time.
“One of the things I always do when I’m writing…is to end all notifications coming to my phone. Being interrupted is the worst thing for a writer.” It is indeed. At least once a week, as I sit down to write early in the mornings, I hear the thump, thump, thump, thump, thump of feet on my stairs. My lovely husband, who is supposed to be snoring like a bear in winter, comes downstairs for a cup of coffee and interrupts my flow. But he’s cute, so it’s alright. Usually.
“Once you have a first draft, it’s much easier to sit down and edit.” Yeah, only one problem with that. Okay, two problems with that. Do I hear three? No, no, just two. First, I have to finish my first draft and I’m around the quarter mark for total chapters. And two, I seriously hate revision. As in would rather stab myself in the eye with a pencil than revise. And I have at least two rounds of revision built in to the publishing journey I’m on. TWO. I seriously hope I don’t hate my book when I’m done.
Thank you for your time, Arianna Huffington. While you may write to move hearts and minds, the time you spent with myself and my fellow writers definitely moved mine.
(And look at that quality screenshot! I almost always catch them looking down or blinking!).