Recently I had the pleasure of meeting a writers group in
Rancho Mirage and listening to some of their work—which was of excellent
quality (this was a relief, as I tend to be truthful in my reactions and that
can be uncomfortable when it’s not up to snuff, even when you’re being
constructive). Anyway, we also had an informal Q &A session, and they asked
me what was the number one thing I’d learned about how to be disciplined in my
use of writing time. I realized that it was actually something very simple:
Set word or page goals, not time goals.
In other words, on days you intend to write, don’t say, “I’ll write for two hours today.” It’s too easy to fritter that time away doing research that’s not really necessary, or deciding to do one more outline, or re-reading what you’ve done already. All of those may be necessary at times, but they’re not writing.
When you say, “I will write 1000 words today,” that’s unambiguous. When the day is over, either you wrote 1000 words or you didn’t.
Keep the goal realistic, give yourself time off when you need it, and don’t beat yourself up if you miss the target sometimes. But do set the target and get as close as you can to meeting it every writing session. Soon those thousand words per day will add up to a story, article, book or a screenplay.
(If procrastination is something you'd like to overcome, sign up for my free eight-part mini-course at www.tameyourinnercritic.com.)
