Current word count: 9,744
Words written today: 504
Words to goal: 30,246/ 348 per day til end of September
Congrats to all those who have been posting their progress in the comments of this blog. It’s great to see, and is encouraging me to strive forward. I hope my word counts are doing the same for you.
I set my alarm and got up early again this morning so I could get in an hour of writing before church. It’s Sunday, and I would love to have slept in and fitted in my writing later in the day, especially after staying up late last night watching a movie. But I learned something on Friday, something I already knew but needed a good reminder: I really need to make sure I write every day, AND, unless I get up early and do it in the morning, I most likely won’t fit it in at all.
Like many people, I had Friday off from work. I had one main plan for that day: Write. I did want to get to the gym, as my husband and I go every weekday, and I had to go grocery shopping, do some laundry and make a desert to take to a friend’s house for her Fourth celebration, but other than that, I planned to write.
As I had the day off, I figured I’d let myself sleep in instead of setting my alarm early and writing like I usually do. That was my big mistake. By the time I had gotten up, eaten breakfast, and gone to the gym, it was 11. The rest of the day went just as fast, and needless to say, I didn’t get any writing done. I was thinking about my writing all the time, though, and I did manage to do some research about point of view, which I wrote about that evening.
But I didn’t get any time to actually sit at my computer and create. And, here’s the funny thing, I felt annoyed all day.
Come Saturday, I set my alarm and got a good two or three hours in. Then this morning, I set my alarm and did an hour. And, here’s the other funny thing, I felt happy both days. Tired, but happy.
A friend of mine and I have had many conversations about this, and I think it’s common among writers. For those of us who have that itch that keeps us coming back to our stories no matter what’s going on in our lives, we’re better off when we’re writing — despite whether we’re published or not.
Anyone else feel their day isn’t the same unless they do at least something on their manuscript?
Write On!
5 Responses
Keep on writing, many of us need to read too!
This happens to me every day of the summer. I’m a teacher, so during the school year, I have to cram to get writing done–but I do it. Now it’s summer, I sleep in, laze about, watch movies…and actually get much less writing done than other times!
Absolutely, Slgreatsuccess. 🙂
That’s so funny, Beth. A writer friend of mine is a stay at home mom, although she does do some editing now, and, even though her son is a teen, she would always joke that she got more writing done when she was working full time.
If I don’t get any writing done, I feel sort of “off.”
And for me, maybe it’s psychological, but the less time I have for writing is when I get more it done. Go figure!
Yeah, I think that’s common, Karen. When we have lots of time, we think, I’ll do it right after this, and after this, and… And before we know it, we’ve run out of time and haven’t done any writing. That’s me, at least.
For me, it’s the difference between finding time to write and making the time to write. That’s why I really need to set my alarm and get up a few hours early if I want to write. If I don’t, I just won’t get the writing done.
I wrote a post on making the time back in February.