It's more than knowing the rules of grammar and some imagination. It's more than being able turn an idea into a viable plot.

In a word, it's ... DISCIPLINE!

No matter who you are, no matter how well you string words together, it's nothing without discipline.

I've spent another weekend not writing. Not procrastinating, per se, but doing things that aren't writing. Mary and I went to the Giants game Friday night, and spent the night in San Francisco. Last night, we ate pizza and watched INSIDE MAN. I worked out, rode my bicycle. I played my guitar...

(sidebar) I've been trying to play the same damn piece for weeks, and still can't play it too well. It's a finger picking piece that uses the C7 chord. Nasty chord.

I read. I did chores, which included cleaning the garage. I read blogs. Tried to clean my office.

What I didn't do was write. But I did read a GREAT article about writing which was written by Paul Guyot. And it has given me the prverbial kick in the ass I need.

It reminded me of the advisor I talked to when I tried to talk myself off academic probation in college in 1988. His name was Sterling Ebel. Among other things, he told me that to succeed in college, you need to do homework and study as religiously as you go to class. That means that you need to set a time and a place to study. It should be a consistent time and place. And you have go to that place at that tinme every week. Just like class. And when you get there, you have to study.

Here's a thought -- if you have yet to be finish writing your novel, like me. You know how you go to Barnes & Noble and see novels that stink, or read a novel and think: "I could do better?"

Well, that writer did one thing you didn't do. He/She finished a novel. Why? Because he/she had DISCPLINE.

Go get some. And go write.

Before you do that, though, go read the article now. Now, dammit!