Norman Mailer kicked my ass. Norman is a friend of Jim Morrison. Jim and I have had conversations about writing and he has given me some wonderful advice about life. Jim mentioned me to Norman and what follows is the advice Norman gave me about writing.
NORMAN MAILER
"I think you are putting together a process. An infrastructure as it were. I think that the very first thing you have to do is figure out the process before you put in the people. Process first people afterward. People are messy, the process keeps things clean. And you can understand what you need from them, what you are looking for, and what needs to be tossed aside. Have you made a decision about what you want to write about, the artist, or the issue? It doesn't seem as if the issue is what's hitting at you, musicians are notoriously messy when it comes to how they live their lives. You ask one question and you get 6 hours worth of conversation and only 20 minutes of it is usable and then it has to be edited down. It's not the people, it's the work and if you want to be on target with the scope, then you have to be on target with your process. The process is what does your workday consist of? And that’s the fear. If you want to deal with things, feelings, and messiness, you have to have a place that does not change. You have to have a desk, and paper, and ink and you have to have a notepad. You have to have the things that you need to process the information. You have to put together what your time at your desk looks like. If you're going to pour your heart and soul into paragraphs, it has to be worth it. There has to be something productive and you need to be productive with it. My advice would be to begin thinking about what happens during the time that you're working. And then to be disciplined with that. So many words per day or so many interviews per day, or so much research per day and you complete that and it is simply what it is. If you want to be the master of your craft then you have to be the master of your craft. There isn't any excuse for anything to impede your progress once you’ve started. Once you’ve started you’ve made a commitment to complete the work, you’ve made a commitment to your subjects, you’ve made a commitment to yourself, those things have to be in your mind every single time, I am going to write these pages, I am going to complete this project, then I can fall apart, then I can disbelieve. But all of that has to go to the side while I am creating it. Do you understand that?"
NORMAN MAILER
"I think you are putting together a process. An infrastructure as it were. I think that the very first thing you have to do is figure out the process before you put in the people. Process first people afterward. People are messy, the process keeps things clean. And you can understand what you need from them, what you are looking for, and what needs to be tossed aside. Have you made a decision about what you want to write about, the artist, or the issue? It doesn't seem as if the issue is what's hitting at you, musicians are notoriously messy when it comes to how they live their lives. You ask one question and you get 6 hours worth of conversation and only 20 minutes of it is usable and then it has to be edited down. It's not the people, it's the work and if you want to be on target with the scope, then you have to be on target with your process. The process is what does your workday consist of? And that’s the fear. If you want to deal with things, feelings, and messiness, you have to have a place that does not change. You have to have a desk, and paper, and ink and you have to have a notepad. You have to have the things that you need to process the information. You have to put together what your time at your desk looks like. If you're going to pour your heart and soul into paragraphs, it has to be worth it. There has to be something productive and you need to be productive with it. My advice would be to begin thinking about what happens during the time that you're working. And then to be disciplined with that. So many words per day or so many interviews per day, or so much research per day and you complete that and it is simply what it is. If you want to be the master of your craft then you have to be the master of your craft. There isn't any excuse for anything to impede your progress once you’ve started. Once you’ve started you’ve made a commitment to complete the work, you’ve made a commitment to your subjects, you’ve made a commitment to yourself, those things have to be in your mind every single time, I am going to write these pages, I am going to complete this project, then I can fall apart, then I can disbelieve. But all of that has to go to the side while I am creating it. Do you understand that?"