On LJ, Shadawyn wrote an essay on the danger of being prolific. She says that when a person who had been easily writing 2,000+ words a day suddenly can’t write that many, it’s hard to accept that writing only 500 a day might be ok, even while cheering on other people who are writing more slowly than oneself.
I’m not sure that’s only a problem for prolific writers. (I’ve never been that fast, though, so maybe it is.) Even those of us with smaller goals can suddenly find ourselves unable to meet them. Right now I’m struggling to accept that my current goal — do something, anything every day — is worth bothering with, when 10+ hours a week used to be normal.
But I can’t do 10 hours a week right now, because those 10 hours don’t exist.
I guess my point is that all of us need to set reasonable goals and remember that things change. And if we suddenly can’t write 750 words a day anymore, to do what we can and stop fretting, which is easier said than done.