I’m curious about your writing process. Do you try to reach a word goal every day? What keeps you going when you have an “off” day? How much time do you spend writing and how much time do you spend doing other stuff (not really social media but research and planning stuff out?)
My writing process is always evolving, but here’s what works for me now:
I set a daily word goal and also a daily time goal, with the understanding that I’m free to call it a day when either of those are reached. ie, 2.5 hours or 2,000 words, whichever comes first. This helps a lot on those days when motivation is in short supply, because I know I won’t be frustrating myself for 10 hours trying to achieve a word count goal that’s just not going to happen.
I also really like deadlines. I don’t always meet them, but I like having them. Because honestly, if I could spend 2 years on a book, I would. More, if I could get away with it. Because there’s always something to fix, something I could do better, some area of doubt or insecurity I can’t seem to get over. Having a deadline helps me focus on getting it finished and let go of getting it perfect.
Another thing that helps with off days is that I put a time limit on indecision. When I can’t figure something out—like right now, I don’t know what I’m going to write next, I keep waffling—I give myself a few days to try and get some clarity, but no more than that. A wrong decision is better than no decision at all. I can’t just stay stopped because I don’t know what happens next. Eventually I have to start moving forward again.
The time thing is always a struggle. Jennifer Crusie did a post a long time ago about time management, and how sometimes the things you say are important to you are never made a priority. Writing can be like that if I let it. It’s so much easier to go on Twitter and talk to other writers about writing than it is to stay off Twitter so I can get some writing done. I’m on Tumblr right now, answering questions. Because writing is hard and this is easy.
But I do make an effort. Some weeks I make a better effort than others, but I try. The breakdown of how I use that time follows the same logic of giving the most important things the most hours, and spending the least amount of time on the least important things: Writing > Editing > Reading > Generating Story Ideas > Planning and Analytics > Everything Else
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