Started by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by:
Optional March 1 Question: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?
Yes, my first professionally published short story (I got paid!) "Dragonfold" was a story I had written nine years earlier and submitted to a local writer's conferience for a contest. It didn't make it then, but when I pulled it out later and revised it, it gained publication. Now that story is the title story for my first story collection - and admittedly, probably the best one in the book.
Along those lines, I read a few articles about the "10,000 hours to Mastery" idea.
Have you heard of it?
I heard of this concept back when my daughters were early homeschool students.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called The Outliers - about successful people - and this concept was one that really became popular after that.
However, there is conflicting research now. Some "master-level" and world-class artists, musicians, CEOs, and athletes spend less than 10,000 hours and some spend more than 10,000 hours to get to a high level of success.
Here are the links to two articles I read about this:
Meanwhile - my fellow authors from the 2017 IWSG Anthology Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life rock at marketing! Between all 12 of us, we might just get to at least 1,000 hours of marketing work in the next three to six months. Be prepared to hear more about heroes, lost heroes, heroes lost, and otherwise. :)
The Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life Website already has posts up and running, as well as information about individual stories and authors.
What do you think? Is there a magic number of hours it takes to gain a mastery level?
If so, how do we apply that to our writing and marketing efforts?
Have you seen the Hero Lost website yet? Or pre-ordered an e-book?
Also, I am still recovering from my first surgery so I may take a bit to visit - and I will do that before I comment here.
If you see random tweets from me from The Piano Guys youtube videos - well, music is helping me get through the painful part of recovery. Since I love to sing and singing is kind of painful because using my diaphragm pushes into the surgery area, I'm trying to listen to instrumentals only.
35 comments:
Hope you heal quickly.
Not sure there is a magic number. I think it depends on the skill one already possesses.
Signed up for the Thunderclap! And hope you feel better soon!
I don't know if there's a magic number. I'm just trying to keep learning and growing in the craft as well as in life. :)
Glad to hear music is helping you heal!
Hmmm. Now you've got my thinking, have I ever truly mastered anything? It always feels like my life is still a work in progress.
Distracting me with the hero site. :)
If there's a magic number of hours to get to mastery level I passed it a long time ago. Lol! I don't think number of hours has to do with it. If someone writes 15000 hours but never gets any feedback, could they really master anything? But I do think, with practice and time and help, we get to a point where we know ourselves and our tastes and our strengths and weaknesses so well that writing becomes less of an event and more of a lifestyle, if that makes sense. I've gotten to that point at least. I know real fast if something isn't working. I'm hoping to figure out how to find fast solutions. Ha.
Yay for the thunderclap! I hope you feel better soon Tyrean! I do not believe in magic numbers only because I am so slow.
Stick to those instrumentals.
I've also heard a million words is the marker. Who knows?
Hope you recover quickly! I don't know if I believe in the magic number. I'm pretty sure I'll just continue to wing it with most things.
I always took the 10'000 hour rule to mean "just work really REALLY hard at what you want to master, because raw talent isn't the same as mastery."
It seems a little arbitrary to pick a certain number of hours and expecting all kinds of people to master different things requiring different skill levels in that same amount of hours. :-/
Hope you feel better soon!
Wow, Tyrean its great that you could publish your story Dragonfold nine years after it was written.
Sending you lots of healing hugs for your recovery.
That's awesome your first paid short story was an old one! Hope you feel better soon. :)
I've heard about that mastery thing. I'm sure it depends on what you're trying to master, but long hours of hard work is surely correct. Congrats on all the great promotion.
If there is a magic number, I'm still reaching for it! The more I write, the more I learn, so I believe it.
Yes, here's to a swift healing!
Love that the old is made new!
Thunderclap! Signed on!
I don't think there is a magic number. Each person will be different. I think the 10,000 indicates when the person "feels" like they have mastery whether they have it or not.
So reworking a story paid off! A huge high five for that, Tryean.
Sending cheese to speed your healing!
Maybe 10,000 hours isn't required, but I think it's a pretty good gauge for those aiming at a specific mastery. I think the key is focus and determination. And a little luck. =)
I think there is no magic number for gaining mastery level. I think it's different for everyone.
Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone!
I'm visiting instead of commenting here - hope that's okay.
Take time to recover from your surgery. Awesome that a manuscript from 9 years ago got revised and sold.
I hope you are resting comfortably with good meds and get better really soon. I agree with the 10,000 hours to mastery idea. The only thing is no one can get better if they make the sames mistakes during the 10,000 hours, so learning is as important as practicing craft during those hours.
Hope you heal quickly from your surgery. I've supported your Thunderclap campaign. Good luck with it! :-D
I've been keeping you in my prayers, Tyrean!! I supported the thunderclap and signed up to post it on my blog.
Hope you recover soon, Tyrean. I never heard about 10,000 hours before, but I read one writer who insisted that to consider yourself a real writer you have to have written 1,000,000 words. He never mentioned if the re-writes counted. I hope they do. If they do, I'm a real writer. :))
I hope you heal soon :-)
I think we all develop at our own pace. Sure, if you've dedicated 10,000 hours to something you are well on your way to mastering it - or hating it. (I'm thinking about driving in rainy weather while everyone thinks they're Racer X...) The more you practice, the better you get.
I take the 10,000 hours things as a guideline, more than gospel. (Mind you - I like to take most things as guidelines and create my own version ;) )
I think it sometimes takes extra time when the person is not learning from the mistakes, so time spent repeating mistakes can't be counted as progress.
The anthology people are so good, they make my head spin!
That's a great story of a rewrite gone well! It's important to celebrate every victory as an author:)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm coming around to visit your blogs.
I take the 10,000 hours as a guideline, too, and as many of you have noted - good writing and learning make more sense than repeating mistakes.
I hadn't heard about the 10,000 hours to mastery concept before. If that's the case, I've got a long way to go :-) Keeping you in my thoughts during your healing process.
Great that you stuck with that story after its initial rejection - persistence paid off in the end!
I've heard of that theory before, and I have to say I'm sceptical. I'm not sure there's a magic number of hours it takes to become a master, it's more about how you use the time and how much you learn.
Already signed up for the Thunderclap. The first IWSG anthology was great and looks like this will be a winner too!
I don't think there is any magic number to mastery, and to be honest, with writing, I don't think writers ever master it. There's always something else to learn.
Take your time to recover! We'll be around. :)
Wishing a speedy recovery for you, Tyrean!
Oh my goodness, not sure how I missed you. Caught this on Goodreads and decided to check. Hope you feel better. Signed up for Thunderclap.
Happy IWSG Belated Day!
Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 Hour Rule? According to him, that's the magical number. *shrugs*
Hope you're feeling better, Tyrean!
I'm sending a boost of POSITIVITY and healing vibes your way!
(((HUGS)))
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