September 23, 2009
Sometimes, I get off track in the fiction writing realm. This week, for example, I’ve been pretty sick, and it’s taken a toll on my writing. Frankly, I haven’t been hitting on all cylinders for most of the week, and it’s been frustrating. But today, I implemented the best strategy for dealing with such off-track times: I put my butt in the chair and forced myself to write. It didn’t matter if what I wrote was garbage. It didn’t matter if it ever saw print. All that mattered was that I put my butt in the chair and did me some writin’. And yes, I think it helped. I certainly felt more focused…though I’m sure that was due in large part to my sickness turnaround today. The point is, I forced myself to kick out all the nagging internal voices that were holding me up, and I wrote over 500 words of a short story. My next goal is to write a thousand words tomorrow and the next day, finish this story by early next week, and start in on the many projects on my autumn to-do list. Sometimes, that’s the best strategy available when the writing machine runs a little choppy, and the hill of your daily writing obligations starts to look like a mighty mountain. Just sit down, focus in, and write! See you soon.
