Two Thousand Words

Stephen King wrote a book on writing called On Writing (cleverly). I didn’t actually read it,I listened to the audiobook during my commute to and from my aerospace defense job. He reads it himself, which is a tiny bit jarring at first because his voice is not what you’d expect.

Everyone knows he’s a terrific storyteller, and the stories in this book are lovely and satisfying. I’m too squeamish for the gore in his fiction, so I was surprised by how charmed I was. Most surprising? His advice transformed my writing life.

His work style: write 2,000 words every day. Whether it takes an hour or eight hours, you write those 2,000 words. And you eliminate adverbs (like ‘cleverly’). They’re telling, not showing.

Since I left my job, I write 2,000 words for my book every day and another 500-600 words three times a week for this site. I keep adverbs to a minimum. And yes, a future editor will decide which of those daily 2,000 words to keep, but the discipline of writing them? That’s all mine.