Abraham Lincoln is often attributed with having said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Now, many quotes are popularly ascribed to Lincoln that he most likely never said, and the fact that multiple variations of this quote exist - with some changing the number of hours, and others even changing it from hours to minutes - makes it extremely doubtful that the statement is a bonafide quote from the abolitionist U. S. president, but that isn't really what's important here. What is important is what this quote actually says.
The English language is rife with proverbs and idioms extolling the value of preparation and thinking ahead, and concurrently, warning against the risks and dangers involved in rushing headlong into an endeavour with more enthusiasm than forethought. "A stitch in time saves nine", "measure twice cut once", "look before you leap", "if you fail to plan you plan to fail", even the Boy Scouts' motto, "Be Prepared", has acquired a proverbial quality over time. There seems to be a conventional wisdom regarding the value of preparation and foresight, and it's worth listening to.
The idea of sharpening one's axe is that of putting in work beforehand that will set your main task up for a degree of success that is far greater than it would have been otherwise. To use WorksInProgress as an example, I spent a good deal of time building this website before I began writing the first post, and there were many minor details that I tweaked and adjusted to make things as clear, engaging, and easy to navigate as I possibly could. All of this ensured that my writing would have the maximum potential impact, by reducing the amount of people who might exit the site due to an unprofessional appearance, or a confusing layout. I am quite pleased with what I achieved in designing the site, but when I look back at the first few posts I have uploaded, I don't feel I have put the same level of axe sharpening into my writing.
When I went live with the website, I set myself the target of publishing two posts each week, and I knew I had to get into that routine quickly before I could drop the ball and things started spiralling away from me, ultimately leading to the site fizzling out due to irregular posting, or complete inactivity. What this meant however, was that I focused on just making sure I was putting out the posts, without spending sufficient time working on them. While I may be satisfied with the quality of my posts so far, I would not say that I am pleased with them, and for me that is an important distinction. I feel that there are many ways I could improve the quality of my writing here, from spending more time researching the themes and topics I write about, to submitting my posts to a more thorough editing process, each step I implement can only improve the overall end product, something that is not only relevant to my own artist's integrity as writer and my desire to create the best content I am capable of, but also to my career as a freelance writer, as I intend to have this blog form a significant portion of my portfolio.
Currently, each post has gone from blank page to published product in a single writing session, which means I haven't had the chance to edit them at all to include follow up thoughts, or any kind of streamlining that might occur to me after publishing, as happened with my latest post, "The Weakest Link". The post was somewhat rushed to meet my two-posts-a-week rule, but the very next day, I thought of a far more streamlined way to conclude the post, that would incorporate the theme of the weakest link, and mesh it far more clearly with the danger of rote learning how to write. However, because I had written the post as it was needed, I had no opportunity now to fine-tune it, as it was already published.
In order to maintain the certain quality threshold I am aiming for on this website, I need to spend more time on my posts. My current habit of rushing them out to meet self-imposed deadlines is undermining that goal to produce quality in a classic case of "More haste, less speed", and that is something I intend to rectify moving forward.
I had intended to publish another post yesterday, but I found myself dissatisfied with it. Had I published it anyway, I would have been setting a poor precedent and giving myself permission to write shoddy work to meet deadlines. I had to take a deliberate step back and resolve that I was going to do things properly from the outset before that habit of the rush job had a chance to settle in and become permanent. I don't intend to alter my post schedule as I do believe that two posts a week is a very achievable target, rather I am committing to putting the effort in that each post requires, and putting that effort in ahead of time. In short, I am resolving to sharpen my axe.
This post has been a bit of a behind the scenes look at how I'm intending to run the blog, and I'll probably write more articles like it in the future, walking through my creative process and what I actually do when I write, but for now this is really just a "general announcement", and while I'm at it I figure I may as well announce what my official posting schedule is. I will be uploading a new post every Tuesday and Friday (barring emergencies or exceptions due to my workload picking up, but I'll do my best to inform you of those ahead of time for all you content consumers champing at the bit to read my next bit of rambling). The plan is to have the Tuesday posts focus more on Writing as a craft and profession, while Friday posts will be more personal, sharing lessons, experiences, and hobbies form my own life, but that distinction is hardly set in stone.
I will see you all again on Friday for the second post of the week.
Keep creating
Michael
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