I was talking to someone about being a humor writer a few days ago, when they asked how long I have been doing this.
"Over 10 years."
"Wow! How do you come up with something new every week?"
I'm asked this question quite a bit, and I have a standard answer -- "current events," or "I steal from Dave Barry" -- but then I realized I had not thought about this in a l-o-o-o-ong time. I've published over 530 columns, and I only repeat old colums about six times a year because of sickness or vacation. Even then, I have to edit and tweak those things, so it's not like I have a free week.
So basically, I have no clue how I do it. I just come up with an idea -- hopefully more than 4 hours before my deadline -- and start sketching out some notes on a handy piece of paper. But I invariably forget to write them out, or I lose the notes, and then I'll be sitting in front of my computer at 9:30 on a Thursday nigh, trying desperately to reconstruct my half-baked idea from three days earlier.
I finally got smart and started carrying around a little black Moleskine (yes, with the E on the end) notebook with me -- the same kind Hemingway, Van Gogh, and Matisse all used. It's sitting on my desk right now, never far from hand. I write down all my column and book ideas, jokes, and concepts in it. I also take a day or two each week and write at least 2/3 of my column in it. From there, it's short work to bang out a new column each Thursday night. Surprisingly, by taking 30 minutes on a Tuesday over lunch, I save myself 2 hours on Thursday night. I would be lost without this thing, which is why I wrote my address in the front with a note offering a reward if it's lost.
If you're a writer, or you aspire to be one, get yourself a little Moleskine (you can find them at the large chain bookstores). Even if you're a lapsed poet who I keep bugging about getting back into writing (you know who you are!), use it to write down any ideas that pop into your head. Eventually the words will come and you'll find you can barely keep up with the steady stream of ideas flowing from your pen. This practice has made my column writing much, much easier, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who will listen.
Now if I can only figure out why I do it every week.
"Over 10 years."
"Wow! How do you come up with something new every week?"
I'm asked this question quite a bit, and I have a standard answer -- "current events," or "I steal from Dave Barry" -- but then I realized I had not thought about this in a l-o-o-o-ong time. I've published over 530 columns, and I only repeat old colums about six times a year because of sickness or vacation. Even then, I have to edit and tweak those things, so it's not like I have a free week.
So basically, I have no clue how I do it. I just come up with an idea -- hopefully more than 4 hours before my deadline -- and start sketching out some notes on a handy piece of paper. But I invariably forget to write them out, or I lose the notes, and then I'll be sitting in front of my computer at 9:30 on a Thursday nigh, trying desperately to reconstruct my half-baked idea from three days earlier.
I finally got smart and started carrying around a little black Moleskine (yes, with the E on the end) notebook with me -- the same kind Hemingway, Van Gogh, and Matisse all used. It's sitting on my desk right now, never far from hand. I write down all my column and book ideas, jokes, and concepts in it. I also take a day or two each week and write at least 2/3 of my column in it. From there, it's short work to bang out a new column each Thursday night. Surprisingly, by taking 30 minutes on a Tuesday over lunch, I save myself 2 hours on Thursday night. I would be lost without this thing, which is why I wrote my address in the front with a note offering a reward if it's lost.
If you're a writer, or you aspire to be one, get yourself a little Moleskine (you can find them at the large chain bookstores). Even if you're a lapsed poet who I keep bugging about getting back into writing (you know who you are!), use it to write down any ideas that pop into your head. Eventually the words will come and you'll find you can barely keep up with the steady stream of ideas flowing from your pen. This practice has made my column writing much, much easier, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who will listen.
Now if I can only figure out why I do it every week.