I’ve been listening to some writer-focused podcasts recently, and one of them said something that resonated with me quite nicely. The basic thrust of it was that when we (writers, artists, ‘creatives’) set goals, we often set such insurmountable ones that we are doomed to failure before we even start.
The example they used, since they are both writers themselves on said podcast (“Unpublished”), was having a ridiculous word count expectation, or waiting for a good day to write. Instead, they do 10-15 minutes of writing every day. Every day! Consistent, without fail effort to result in consistent output.
Most of the time I’m writing novels, I’m aiming for 2,000 words a day. The idea was that at that rate, I could finish a draft in about two months, polish it up for about two months (including professional editing, obvi), and then get 2-3 novels out a year. Bam!
The reality has been closer to one novel a year, even at that rate, and the reason being is that it’s really hard to sustain while also doing all the other stuff I have to do to not starve to death. So I would write 10,000 words a month instead of 14,000 words a week, and I’d feel like a failure.
But 10-15 minutes? A few hundred words? I can do that.
I’m calling it now. Starting today, I am absolutely writing for 15 minutes a day, every day, unless I’m bleeding out of my eyeballs.
And even then I might just write with my eyes shut…
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!