Is your writing going as well as mine?

Probably.

One day last week I finished a short story I'd been working on for a few weeks, sent it off for editing, and then (the same day!) I worked on my novel. I bet I worked 6 or 7 hours straight that day. What euphoria!

Lest you feel inferior, the next day...nada.

Here are my thoughts on that: so what? When it goes well I have no problem patting myself on the back and when it doesn't, I have the pandemic to blame. That's a win-win.

The thing is, there's so much more to writing than words on the page. There's the creation of your story, there's making sure the plot is believable, there's getting to know your characters, there's learning your craft, there's researching, there's reading the kind of work we want to write... It all counts, and I'm doing plenty of that. I bet your are too. So, if your word count isn't increasing every day, don't despair, because it's not all about numbers. 

You get credit for reading this blog post - put that in your writing bucket for the day. Then, read Tim Storm's article on How to Write When You're Freaking Out and you get credit for that too. Look how quickly your work bucket is filling up!

Tim is one of my favorite writing gurus. He's smart and wise, and always has exercises and suggestions that will get you motivated. If you have any little question at all you'll likely find a post about it on his website. Tim offers editing services, he runs online critique groups, he has online classes and he does “personal training.” Check him out.

So, how is your writing going? Is it going as well as mine? What would help you?

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