Friday, March 6, 2009
10,000 Hours
That's how many hours it takes to become an expert at anything according to Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers". That works out to almost three hours a day for 10 years. 10 years. I've been writing fiction for almost six years but not for three hours a day. More like, maybe, a half hour to an hour a day. So, it would take me 30 years. I don't have 30 years. And by the way, another source I just read said 20,000 hours. So, I'll take the 10,000 hour figure. And somehow, it's not just that he says it, it rings true. He gives the example of music students at Julliard. And says the ones that practice hours a day become concert performers. There's no case of consistent practice of hours a day, given a level of talent allowing them entrance into that school, where the student did not end up performing at a concert level. Yeah, we've got the starting level of talent there, but going on from there is the 10,000 hours. Daunting, but sort of comforting, too. I can do something about that piece.
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4 comments:
The good news is that most successful authors will say that they are not yet experts.
I read that part in "Outlier" and immediately started to calculate. I average about 15 minutes a page. I went through my first novel (which shall never see the light of day) and the second novel and my short stories. You know what number I hit? 5,000. Only halfway! I was soooo irked. But, we are always students, yes? And I question whether active critiquing of others' works counts towards our total....
Wow- 15 minutes a page. It takes me more like an hour. I calculate that at an average of an hour a day for six years, I'm only at just over 2,000 hours. So halfway looks good to me.
Damn, now I want to do math.
Six pages in an hour, single-spaced, so we'll say twelve in an hour when I'm on a roll. Damn, got to go look at some stuff.
630 so far. Hmm, that's only about ten and a half hours. Discouraging.
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