I have a confession to make…
I did not write 5000 words today. I didn’t write 2500 words today.
Didn’t even get close.
I edited a chapter, it took me – probably – longer than it should have because I’ve got a cold-thing that has half of my head feeling like it’s been packed with concrete and my balance centers have me walking in circles.
Pretty much all the time, what you see on social media are the good writing days. The AWESOME writing days and, don’t get me wrong, those are definitely things to be celebrated. My 5000 word days are so few and far between, I feel the need to splurge on a steak dinner when they show up so, hell yeah, I’m going to drop that into Twitter.
You see everyone’s “A” game.
What you don’t see so much of are the “Lousy” writing days*. Think about it. When was the last time you saw posts that read:
“Spent my writing time today trying to wring something useful out of my brain and ended up with 350 words.”
“Feel like 10 miles of bad road covered by old yogurt, but I wrote. Barely remember what I wrote, but I got it down, damn it.”
“Really didn’t want to write today, but I did.”
Those are the real successes that we need to see more of. Those are the days that call for celebration. It wasn’t easy. In fact it was pretty daunting to sit down and make with the writing, or the writing didn’t come easy, but you did it anyway.
I call that a win.
If you’re anything like me, there are days where you need to know that the struggle is real for everyone, and that you’re not the only one banging your head against the keyboard, trying to make the words.
To that end, I want to encourage you this week to post about your writing day. Keep the varnish off. If you had a great day, post about it. If you barely managed to get anything done at all, post about it.
You’re doing the work and, damn it, that’s worthy of notice.
Even when it’s hard.
Especially when it’s hard.
I’ll be doing that this week and, if you post about it, include me. I want to hear about the day-to-day successes.
I’m on:
Twitter @kenschrader4882
and Facebook
*There are no truly bad writing days. I know that, for myself, I try and hold to a sometimes unreasonable standard as to what a “Productive” day should look like. Most of the time I make it. Sometimes I don’t and have a tendency to discount the entire time as being useless, even though that is a total crap kind of thought.
Time: 3:30 pm-ish
Music: Hammerfall – Let the Hammer Fall