I’ve always wanted to pitch a home decorating show called “Like You’re Really Going To Do That.” The concept is to take all the fashionable ideas designers spit out and see how they stand up to real life. The idea came to me when my reaction to a bathroom makeover wasn’t “oh, how pretty” but “who’s going to clean that?”
Writing experts provoke a similar reaction. Write back story for each of your characters? Color-code the emotional journey of the protagonist? Diagram the main story arc and three sub-plots? Who has the time?
My heel acted up on vacation so my family took the time to march me to a shoe store and replace my worn-out sneakers. What a difference good support made! The rest of the trip was a delight, and my heel didn’t complain once.
The moral of the story? Well, there are two. The first is just because something is going to take time doesn’t mean it is a waste of time. The second is there is a difference between decorating your writing space with the trappings of a writer and finding the tools that help you be a writer. Figuring out the tools that work best for you is worth the time, and yeah, you should really do that.