On Writing

First, a quick computer update: I'm at home, and I can take it into the store tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
Second, another update: I probably can't post on Friday. I'll try and type one up soon and schedule it for Friday, but keep that in mind. (not that my record for posting on time has been stellar this month, or anything.)

Anyway, this post is titled "On Writing" for a reason. That reason is, first, that the NaNoWriMo website officially relaunched today. HUZZAH! I wrote up a summary for my novel this year and put it into my profile. I finally figured out what my title is going to be. Then I fully internalized that I have two-thirds of October to get my notes together. Now I'm starting to get nervous and wonder where all my character sheets are and WHY I NEVER ACTUALLY WROTE THEM UP. GAH.
Somewhere in all of that, I found time to browse around the NaNoWriMo pep talks. And somewhere in that browsing, I found a pep talk written by Patrick Rothfuss, whose major books include The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear. In this pep talk (which you can read here), he included the following Inviolably True Rule:

1. Yay, Verily. You Must Sit Down and Write.

1a. Thou shalt not go see a movie instead. Or watch reality TV. Thou shalt write. No. Stop. You don’t need to clean out the fridge right now. Neither dost thou need to sort the recycling. I’m not even kidding. Go and write.

1b. Thou shalt not just think about writing. Seriously. That is not writing. The worst unpublished novel of all-time is better than the brilliant idea you have in your head. Why? Because the worst novel ever is written down. That means it’s a book, while your idea is just an idle fancy. My dog used to dream about chasing rabbits; she didn’t write a novel about chasing rabbits. There is a difference.

1c. Thou shalt not read, either. I know it’s book-related, but it’s not actually writing. Yes, even if it’s a book about how to write. Yes, even if you’re doing research. You can research later. Sit. Down. Write.

I proceeded to write most of that down onto an index card, which will be posted on my desk at school as soon as I go back on Tuesday.

This rule is important because of the Major Law of Succeeding at Things: DO THE THING. In order to be good at a thing, you need to do that thing. Thinking about the thing doesn't count. Shopping for materials doesn't count. Using those materials for non-thing-related endeavors doesn't count. None of those will actually help you succeed at the the thing. All the yarn and knitting needles in the world won't make you a good knitter. You're not going to be a star basketball player if your gaming thumbs are the only things getting a workout - not even if they're getting a workout on basketball games. It just doesn't work like that.

In all, I really need to start writing again. It's the best way to success, right?