6 Rounds Of Championship Writing

6 Rounds Of Championship Writing...  

Round One:

 No one who steps through the ropes of a boxing ring is a coward. You might not be a very good boxer, but once you put a foot inside those ropes no one has the right to call you a coward. You face an opponent who has trained as hard as you have and has the same desire you have. Will he punish your mistakes or will you punish his.

No one who sits down at a desk and puts that first word down on paper is a coward, they may never finish a fight with a completed manuscript, but the act of stepping into the arena sets you apart from most of society. You have shown up for the fight. You have entered the ring with an opponent determined to grind you down, punish your mistakes and slip away from your best sentences. An opponent who defeats more writers than defeat it.

Round Two:

The hardest part of training is getting out of the chair. Most boxers would rather fight than train. Training is hard, sick inducing, gut wrenching physical torture. But no matter how hard it is the hardest part is often getting out of the chair to get to the gym. “I’ll just….” “After I finish…” “Just one more….”

The hardest part of writing is often sitting down in the chair. Writing the first sentences of the morning can be just as hard and gut wrenching, because in this case the opponent is a keyboard or even a blank piece of paper. Many budding writers can find a hundred things to do before they sit down in the chair and take that first look at the page. The cup of coffee, the e mail, the research.

Round Three:

Once in the gym the boxer is committed to 60-90-120 minutes of hard work. Each section of the work is pre planned and subject only to the clock. 6 x 2 minute skipping with 30 second breaks: 3 x 1 minute on the Heavy bag and 30 seconds break: Sparring 6 x 3 minute rounds with a minutes rest. The boxer’s session is totally under control. 

The professional writer has the same discipline each day they show up at the desk is a session set around the clock or around a pre set number of words. 6 x 500 words or 5 hours of writing with occasional breaks. Write a few hundred words without stopping, without thinking, without editing. Write for two hours until the mental sweat drips from your brow and then come again for another two hours after lunch. Drag yourself into the writing room ready to face the same torture.

Round Four:

Every boxer has a trainer. An older figure with experience of the fight game and how to become a better fighter than you were when you first walked up those rickety stairs and opened the door into the sweat stained, liniment smelling room. The trainer knows your every strength and weakness and decides on what to work on in any specific session. 

Most writers have a mentor whether physical or virtual. Someone you can turn to for guidance throughout your career, someone who not only knows your strength of writing but also your weaknesses. Someone who can say today we’re going to work on your characters, your plot, your ending. Someone who has written the book; someone who has published the book and worn the T Shirt.

Round Five:

Every boxer has a manager. Someone who can organize the fights, the venues, the fees and the opponents. The manager makes sure the boxer is being trained by the right trainer, gets the right opponent in the right location and for the right price to advance the career. Or is the fighter forever on the undercard of grimy back street halls being produced as fodder for young up and comers.

The writer has an agent or is self-managed. The criteria is the same. Are you following the structure set by your mentor? Are you in the right place at the right time to complete a project? Are you being booked into the right book signing events or the right market for your style of writing? Are you asking for the right fees? Is your writing career following a structured path or are you forever receiving "No" in reply to agents.

Round Six:

Fight Night:

The big night. All the preparation has been done the manager has set the fee for the fight and the trainer has prepared the fighter to the best of their ability and the venue is ready. The fighter leaves the dressing room, gloved up and in their own particular favourite clothes. The music plays as they make their  way to the ring and the ropes appear. The crowd cheer their encouragement as the fighter climbs through the ropes and begins to dance around the ring. Their opponent appears and makes the same journey. In the ring they face each other as the referee gives them the final rules of battle. The bell rings.

The author has prepared for the session, the writing room awaits but first there is the final self-instruction, the pens and paper with notes and mind mapped ideas. Dressed for work the author waits at the door of the study. The crowd in the head, the encouragement of the mentor in the ears, the author steps over the threshold and moves to the centre of the room where the desk and writing machinery wait. The final instructions of battle: Where’s the conflict? Who’s the protagonist? What’s the plot? The author sits, stares the screen and keys squarely in the eyes and throws the first punch.

The keys click and battle commences.