My father, who’d actually begun his writing career as a young Stars and Stripes reporter during WWII and ended up a highly respected military historian in the Air Force, often told me, “Writing is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration. Nothing beats attaching the seat of your pants to a chair and pounding out your story until you’ve got it right.”

That viewpoint was hammered home to me by a literary agent here in San Antonio in the late 1970s. I saw him at a writers’ conference, and signed with him a year or so later. When he stood up to speak to our group, he was so short he could barely see over the podium, but he had a deep, melodic voice that caught my attention immediately.

“How many of you want to be writers?”

Of course, we all raised our hands expectantly.

He didn’t miss a beat. “Then go home. You should be writing.” 

He sat back down as we rather self-impressed, wannabe-authors sat in stunned silence, but I've never forgotten it. Quite a speech, right?

Back in my early days, many of us wrote because we wanted to be called ‘authors.’ We wanted the over-the-top, yet-suffering-victims' lifestyles of Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, or Truman Capote – all brilliant writers. But, ultimately, these were the writers I used as examples of what I didn’t want to be (after falling in that trap for a few years): a writer who used my talent to get away with just about anything.

Fast forward to today, when every overused descriptive phrase has an all-encompassing term that sounds ridiculous and pretentious to an old, down-to-earth writer like me. Authors, painters, musicians, songwriters, actors and actresses are now called ‘Creatives.’ Returning to an original idea or story is ‘Circling Back.’ And the simple act of planting one’s behind in a chair and pounding out a story on a battered keyboard is now known as ‘The Writer’s Process.’

This is a term that cracks me up in its pomposity. The closest thing I have to a Process, I guess, is that I crave solitude if I'm planning. If I need to get organized in my head, I drive toward the desert in west Texas, move my furniture around, clean my house, or re-organize my office. Although I was raised by musicians and I love music, I can't write at all if I hear it anywhere in the house. I get sidetracked and find myself making up another story to go with the lyrics, so I have to write in total silence if I'm ever going to get anything accomplished. 

While I have methods and conditions that I prefer to work with, it’s okay if I can’t. Once a story takes root in my brain, I do whatever I have to do to pull it out. I’m embarrassed to admit that it really isn’t a process. It’s a simple obsession – and not always a healthy one.

The closest thing I have to a ‘Serious Process’ (just so I can have a real life) is a daily schedule that I try very hard to adhere to. The only reason is that if I don’t get the other things on my list done before I start writing, I won’t ever do them. Once I’m committed to a story, I’m committed. I know this about myself: Everything else will get pushed to the sidelines and suffer.

I don’t mean to badger this point, but I think it’s important. What I’m saying is, Don’t be one of those self-impressed, look-how-talented-I-am Creatives. Be about your work. Your work is what matters. Your work is who you are. 

Don’t let it get lost in the pretentious, overblown lingo and expanded egos so common today. Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground, and your behind glued in your chair. You won't be sorry.

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