I’m back from the workshop (see yesterday’s post on the ARR blog). One thing that came up briefly was the idea of writing every day. I work on writing every day, but planning and revision are such a huge percentage of my writing time that I don’t write new words every day. I do keep trying it, though, usually with a 250 words a day goal, because revision and planning aren’t going to help me get better at the actual writing (well, revision might).
Why don’t I manage to create new words every day?
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I’ve tried to plan my projects in such a way that I always have something I can be writing, but it hasn’t worked out all the time, especially if I get bogged down in a short story. Or if a short story comes out a lot faster than expected. However, I am actually planning three novels right now, so those should give me a lot of 250-word chunks to write for the next year.
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If I’m mired in a novel revision, it seems like a waste of time to write something else. Even for only 15-20 minutes a day. Plus they tend to eat my brain, making it difficult to think about anything else. On the other hand, taking a break to do something fun while still being productive would be nice.
While I was there, I did start writing 250 words a day–but it’s kind of cheating, because I have a novel to work on, so it will be a lot of 250-word days before I’m done. Or 1000-word days if I want to get it done by my self-imposed deadline.
Do you write every day?
I consider “writing every day” to include writing planning and revising. As long as I’m doing writerly work, it counts. Not research, not answering email, but actual creation/destruction, yes.
Of course, I don’t do it every day, and no one can make me. Nyah.
I’d rather it not include destruction, but I suppose that does count.