It matters not how many words you write, only that you enjoy the creation of what you are writing.
Not long ago, I was really concerned with my wordcount. I religiously listed each and every day's worth of writing, validating my "second job" to anyone who cared. Not long ago, I felt unconnected if I only got to write my minimum of 1k a day, and tried to fit writing in no matter what. Seven days a week, I wrote.
Which is how it should be, up to a point, for me. But what is writing, really? If I don't advance in the storyline, but spend an hour ruminating over what happens next, have I been writing for that hour? If I take a day off (meaning I don't write after work and only write on my lunch hour that day) to do something fun, is that so much a bad thing? If I'm in the middle of reading a good book and really want to finish it, should I punish myself for ignoring my characters? Do articles count? Does writing an essay in this blog count as writing?
That original desire to validate my writing no longer applies. I have no one now who doesn't comprehend the importance writing has to me. I don't have to validate the time involved to anyone but myself.
It took me a little while to realize this. I'd been counting my words every day for so long that when I didn't write down a daily wordcount, I felt incomplete. But the truth of the matter, that I can't do wordcounts on the Visor, made me sit down and seriously examine my motives. Keeping track of my wordcounts had no bearing on much at all, save for one small point: keeping track of the time involved. Pretending writing was a 9-5 job with set hours, which it will never be. (The set hour part. Not the job part.) Honestly, I already know what will happen when I write full-time. My hours will be varied every day. Flex time to the max. In truth, I'd probably write more than 40 hours a week if I could.
That said, the pressure is now off. The only wordcount I'm going to keep track of is the ending wordcount, since that's the only one that really counts. I'm giving myself one day off a week, whenever I wish, to do whatever I want. And I'm keeping the Visor close by at all times, because I will get much more done with it than I will if I limit myself to the office.
Wordcounts? Who needs them. I'm not in competition with anyone. I'm only here to write.
Not long ago, I was really concerned with my wordcount. I religiously listed each and every day's worth of writing, validating my "second job" to anyone who cared. Not long ago, I felt unconnected if I only got to write my minimum of 1k a day, and tried to fit writing in no matter what. Seven days a week, I wrote.
Which is how it should be, up to a point, for me. But what is writing, really? If I don't advance in the storyline, but spend an hour ruminating over what happens next, have I been writing for that hour? If I take a day off (meaning I don't write after work and only write on my lunch hour that day) to do something fun, is that so much a bad thing? If I'm in the middle of reading a good book and really want to finish it, should I punish myself for ignoring my characters? Do articles count? Does writing an essay in this blog count as writing?
That original desire to validate my writing no longer applies. I have no one now who doesn't comprehend the importance writing has to me. I don't have to validate the time involved to anyone but myself.
It took me a little while to realize this. I'd been counting my words every day for so long that when I didn't write down a daily wordcount, I felt incomplete. But the truth of the matter, that I can't do wordcounts on the Visor, made me sit down and seriously examine my motives. Keeping track of my wordcounts had no bearing on much at all, save for one small point: keeping track of the time involved. Pretending writing was a 9-5 job with set hours, which it will never be. (The set hour part. Not the job part.) Honestly, I already know what will happen when I write full-time. My hours will be varied every day. Flex time to the max. In truth, I'd probably write more than 40 hours a week if I could.
That said, the pressure is now off. The only wordcount I'm going to keep track of is the ending wordcount, since that's the only one that really counts. I'm giving myself one day off a week, whenever I wish, to do whatever I want. And I'm keeping the Visor close by at all times, because I will get much more done with it than I will if I limit myself to the office.
Wordcounts? Who needs them. I'm not in competition with anyone. I'm only here to write.
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