10,000 hours. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to become monumentally successful at whatever it is one chooses to accomplish in life. In his book Outliers, he uses examples such as Bill Gates and The Beatles. The Beatles were forced to play bad music in a brothel all the night long until after... ohhhhh.... about 10,000 hours of practice they began playing GOOD music in brothels. (The free booze and sex surely made the daunting task undeniably enjoyable.) Bill Gates would only be unknown computer geek Billy Willy Gates had he not put forth the 10,000 hours necessary to become the bazillionaire genius we all know and envy.
So, how does this apply to me? I have decided to be a writer when I grow up. According to my calculations I have thus far in my life spent approximately 5,002 hours writing. Included in my 5,002 hours is all writing required for school from Kinder to Graduation Day from prestigious Brigham Young University. In addition, I have journaled religiously since age 8. I also have note books full of my own terrible poetry and short fictional stories (I needed somewhere to put all the voices and people dancing in my head...).
I plan to use this blog as a countdown. My dream by the end of this charade is to have written something people want to read. I dare say aloud that I plan on being published by this time. I expect your full support, reader (singular since I'm sure there is only one, my adoring husband).
To contribute hours to the countdown I will write something virtually everyday. I will write truth, fiction and all that lies in between. Sometimes my blogs will be humorous--or an attempt at humor, anyway. Other days I will assault you with the injustices I see around me. Still other days will be stories of my youth or daily observations of interest. My hours of writing will increase significantly next fall as I hope to be admitted into the Creative Writing Master's Program at the University of Arizona.
The one disclaimer I must add is my goal is to portray a story or an idea. My goal is NOT to focus on spelling, grammar and syntax. For the time being (and until I have my very own editor) I will write with wild abandon. Every draft will be rough unless of course I choose to make a draft or two of my own volition. If you are one of those who cannot see an error in punctuation without cringing, you need not apply. I welcome all comments and questions.
4,997 HOURS TO GO.
