November 29, 2019 - 77 - "Sitting Here Enjoying Ten-Thousand-Hours Eve"

Michael:  Do you think when you pass the ten thousand hour mark writing...?

Me:  Yes...?

Michael:  Do you think in that last ten minutes you'll turn into Tolstoy?

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Me:  Hmmmm....  I don't know.  But that would make a really good post!

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     Michael was, of course, referring to Malcolm Gladwell's idea that "it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world class in any field."

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     If you count my time noodling around with ideas in notebooks and journals, plus all the time making notes on my phone, in computer files, and on untold piles of scrap paper and napkins...I may just be getting close to the 10,000 hours.


     I'm not sure if any of that time would be considered 'deliberate practice' by Gladwell, but it is intriguing to think there'd be this sudden moment when a switch is flipped between the 9,999th hour of practice and the 10,000th. 

Then suddenly:

      Voila!:  World Class Writer.

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      This idea is probably making you think:  'Well....I've invested this much time in reading her wild  and pointless ramblings...  I may as well stick it out a little longer.  I'd hate to miss that moment when she actually starts saying something useful.'

     I would definitely encourage this line of thinking  a) Because my stats are sad enough as it is, and b) I really feel I might be on the brink of something p r e t t y dang spectacular.

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My 10,000th hour, when I finally
morph into Erma!  Could happen
at any moment now.  Get excited!

     However, I should probably let you know:

     Though I definitely enjoyed Tolstoy books I've read,   (Okay, okay: one).  I'm way more interested in becoming someone further away from the morose end of the writing spectrum.

      Tolstoy didn't make me chuckle much. 

     Now, Erma Bombeck...she's more my idea of a writing genius.  If I were to wake up one day and start sounding a bit like her, ...or David Sedaris, ...or Bad Banana...then I'd feel I was really getting somewhere!

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"When humor goes, there goes civilization."

-Erma Bombeck

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"My writing practice taught me the important thing is steadfastness.  

It's not necessarily discipline.  Discipline can become a prison.  

When your spiritual practices become another thing for you to be anxious about, they've lost their usefulness."

-Elizabeth Gilbert 

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