Reading time: About 1 minute
This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material. Today I discuss the concept of a numbers game for writers…
Are you familiar with the writer Steven Pressfield? He is perhaps best known for his views on “resistance” — the beliefs we hold and the things we do to ourselves to stop ourselves from writing. (He’s also known as the author of the 1995 novel The Legend of Bagger Vance and wonderful 2002 nonfiction book The War of Art.)
In a recent blog post, Pressfield highly recommends a book called The Game of Numbers, written by his friend Nick Murray and aimed at financial planners.
So, why is he recommending such a book for writers?
Well, the Game of Numbers focuses on cold calling — where planners have to pick up the phone and pitch themselves to potential clients — a task that many planners intensely dislike.
Murray’s advice to planners is this:
- Make three calls a day, no matter what.
- Take no notice of your success rate.
- Keep making those calls, no matter how much you hate it.
And here is what Pressfield says about the numbers game for writers:
- Keep grinding. Keep showing up. Keep putting in the work.
- Take no notice of how “good” your stuff is at the end of each day. Just get up the next day and keep striving, keep hammering, keep working.
- The Muse is watching. When she sees the numbers pile up day after day, she smiles. Ah, she thinks, this gal or guy is for real.
I have often noticed how often you can reduce a writing problem to a simple mathematical conundrums: How much time do you have to write a piece? How many words does it need to be? How many words can you write per minute? How much time will you need for editing?
Yes, there is a numbers game for writers and if you want to win at it, you need to put in the time and achieve those numbers.
