What Would Neil Gaiman Do? (WWNGD)

Yesterday I realised that if I seriously wanted to finish writing a story, and if I seriously wanted to write it by the end of the month, I'd have to write for more than three hours a day. So today, I thought: What Would Neil Gaiman Do? (WWNGD)

So I found out, by reading Fantastic Mistakes: Neil Gaiman's 'Make Good Art' Speech. Here's my review, and here's a link to watch the video online instead of buying the book: http://youtu.be/ikAb-NYkseI

Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A nice speech, better to watch on YouTube than to read in a book.

I liked this bit: "Somebody asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult... and I suggested she pretend the she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend to be someone who could."
I also liked this bit: "I learned to write by writing."

There's some hilarious stuff about how to be a successful freelancer (1. Have good work 2. Be easy to get along with 3. Deliver the work on time; but two out of three is fine), and some very wise stuff about the new means of distribution and what this is going to mean for artists of all kinds: he's a man in the know, and worth listening to.


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The upshot of that quick read is this: Firstly, I'm going to pretend that I'm somebody who can sit down and work for another two hours, even though I'd rather read Maddadam. Secondly, I'm going to learn to write by writing.