How to Know When You’re Ready to Write
It’s half instinct, half necessity, and half strategy
This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here.
I think of myself as having two jobs. One is (to steal a term from the corporate toolbox) very outward-facing: It’s an exploratory, fact-finding enterprise. It’s where I begin, usually from scratch, learning about my subject. I never, ever write a word during this stage. I consider it a period of learning and immersion, during which I am devoted to steeping myself in as much information about the subject as I can find. I interview lots of people — some who are very close to the subject and some who are further out from it, but who can help me understand it in a different way. I read. I dig through files. I do whatever is possible to experience the subject firsthand.
To be more concrete about it, I’ll use the example of working on The Library Book. For the first four or five years (yes, I hear you fainting! Have a glass of water, take a deep breath, and then continue reading!) I interviewed librarians and administrators and patrons, and arson experts and firefighters, and book restorers and archivists, and the family of the accused arsonist, and — well, you get the point. I talked to dozens of…
