Running the Gauntlet

If you’re a writer like me, you’ve probably got a dozen stories in your head at any given time. For years I wrote on things at random. Rarely did I work on primarily one thing. I’d write on one project for a few pages, hit another, back to the other, then onto something new. There was no format and no structure; no method to the madness. After writing my first novel, I was elated. I had finally found an outlet for all these stories in my head. Prior to books I was writing things in mind for movies, music, and comics. Over time, managing my mess was an exercise.



I write on my phone a lot, then transfer it to my laptop where I’ll expand, format, and edit. Some projects I’ll write mainly on the laptop but I always end up doing some of it on my phone. I used to text pages and pages to myself. Sometimes full on pages of work, other times just notes. Things changed when my wife got me a new phone. I had changed from writing Agent Phoenix in text to writing it as a word document. Then the files grew with more stories and more notes.



After a while I had more than a dozen documents, not counting everything on the laptop. At this point, I had various pots and pans on the stove but was mainly focused on Agent Phoenix and Loose Lipped Secrets and Twinkling Lights. When I wasn’t working on the novel and poetry book, respectively, I had just a growing file of documents. I ended up falling into a more organized version of my previous work method. I began running the gauntlet.



This is what I ended up calling it. I’d stay up late at night - the family’s asleep, the dogs are put up, time to work with no interruptions – and start at the first document. Very few of them even have names. Most are Blank 1, Blank 2, etc. etc. Actually, two of the Blanks have become finished novels; first drafts, of course. I’d go down the list adding at the very least a line to everything.



I ran the gauntlet for a long while as multiple books were growing slowly, until several came into focus and they were put into a rotation – but that’s for next week.



I suggest using this method. It helped me out a lot, really got me to focus and put in the work. I’m more focused on my craft than ever. Every project is different so it was like a literary workout.



Whether on your phone, laptop, computer, tablet, or whatever, gather your files together (not all, but a healthy amount), start at the first one and just write. And when you’ve felt you’ve said what you could or wanted to say, go to the next file and do the same. Then the third, and however more you have. If you have a lot, you probably won’t always make it through. Aim for at least a sentence. There are some stories I wrote a page or so on, while others were a struggle for that one sentence. It is a writing workout. It can be fun, it can be frustrating, but it helps.



Running the Gauntlet, a writing suggestion.