Words, Wacky Stuff, and other W's

Finding time to write can be a sore subject for many, but I feel like people often mistake how many words one can get down in a sitting or a day for how good a writer it makes them. I’m sorry, but it simply is not true that more means better.

Not all time is equal, and word counts (especially when drafting) can often amount to very little. What’s more, worrying about your daily word count can often lead to less productive writing.

I, like many others, have a full-time job, children, a spouse that I like spending time with, and other hobbies. While I have writing goals in mind, and wordcounts that I DO enjoy hitting, I’ve learned to keep realistic goals that I know I can hit (especially during the week). It is extremely counterproductive to sideline all of life for what can easily become the illusion of progress. But that doesn’t mean the occasional challenge should be avoided; growth often requires a little discomfort. Lean in to it!

It is significantly more important to be satisfied with WHAT you wrote, instead of how much.

Now, I will agree that you should probably have some kind of goal in mind, as it works wonders for the brain when you hit goals more and more over time. It improves mental health, confidence in writing, and gives you more to think about as you go. This is a great win that should be free of heavily stringent rules. However, you should absolutely focus on goals (especially at first) that you can hit with a slight challenge. You can increase the goal over time, but starting out with the impossible does you no favors.

After all, what good is it to turn something you enjoy into a boring chore that stresses you out?

It is perfectly okay, and even encouraged to write for fun. Type out some nonsense, be whimsical, use prompts. The WIP gives you a writing purpose, and you should probably understand the purpose of the words you pick for it, but taking time out to just write for the fun of it, even if it turns into nothing but a smile…that is worth as much as any perfectly constructed paragraph.

You might take or leave some of the views I have; maybe you’ll discard them all. However, I hope my view on writing time and setting goals helps you think of what is most important when it comes to the words you get out and place on those pages!