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A Book A Year By Writing A Sentence A Day? Who Are We Kidding?
So the new version of LIFEWRITING PREMIUM is on line. I have to admit that one of the things I have the most fun with is our tag line: “Write a book a year with a sentence a day!”
It’s just a little evil of me, because I know what (many) people hear when I say that. They hear: “Write a book a year while writing no more than a sentence a day!”
Because I deliberately use this line as an attention grabber, all I have to ask is: Is it True? Is it Kind? Is it Useful?
And in my mind, it passes all three gates…spectacularly. The people who are most disturbed by this are those who think about it in terms of math. Three Hundred and Sixty Five sentences won’t make a book! Not unless its Dr. Seuss…
But the Six Rules for Lifewriting are not just about what they seem to be about. They aren’t just actions for their own sake. Each of them has depths.
Here would be a clearer (but less provocative) statement: “Write a book a year by committing to write a sentence a day.”
I could teach an entire workshop on just this one sentence, but here are some brief thoughts on why it works.
- It is the “Atomic Minimum” of daily writing, just as the “Five Minute Miracle” is the A.M. for stress and meditation, or the Five Tibetans might be considered the A.M. for fitness. If you do the minimum, you’ll get there.
- The negative voices in your head often say…