What Quincy Said

Establishing a productive and disciplined writing practice seems to be one of the biggest challenges facing my friend and myself. Why is it that the thing we want to do most is the thing that we run away from the hardest? I checked out City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success by Nelson George, in part because he has followed path that admire, writing about music in a thoughtful and provocative way while also writing fiction (I don’t know how quality it is, I haven’t read it), hoping to glean some useful inspiration for my own writing practice.

Nelson George: City Kid from Nelson George on Vimeo.

 Nelson George learned his most memorable lesson about discipline from Quincy Jones.

At one point I asked Q what separated the great stars from the near greats he’d worked with. “Ass power” was his reply. To illustrate his point, Q compared Michael Jackson to another well-known vocalist he’d produced. The other singer, an artist with an immense voice and an insatiable appetite for cocaine, would come to the studio, maybe lay down a scratch vocal, and then wander off for hours. Jackson, in contrast, would come to the studio, record a strong lead vocal, work on the stacked vocal harmonies that distinguished his work, and practice where to place those ad-libs that were his trademark.

“His ass power,” Q said, “would keep him in the studio until he felt he’d accomplished something that day. That ability to focus, to stay in that chair in the studio, listening to playback and then going back in to record some more–that’s what separates the good from the great.”

Ass power. I declare 2010 the year of listening to the advice of Mr. Jones, getting my butt in that office chair until I finish the collection of short stories, dammit!

Something that has been working so far (just started this week) is a daily email check-in with a friend of mine who is working on a novel. From Monday-Thursday for the next 30 days, we are going to check-in at 10:30 (via email) and check-out at 12:30. I’ve found it helpful to list my goals for that hour and a half and to make a promise to myself and to Nina not to use email or phone or social media for that entire two hours. If I must go on the internet, it can only be for strictly research or writing needs.

Day 3, and the check-in is working so far. Day 3, moving towards building up that power. Towards a discipline that allows me to escape the “white noise,” and enter into the open veins of creativity. Wish me luck.