There are days when I don’t want to write. Sure, I usually want to write, but sometimes I just don’t feel the magic. My brain doesn’t want to allow the words to come out. It’s difficult. I have headache. My dog is sick. My favorite daughter has practice. I’m tired. My sinuses are bothering me.

There are a lot of times when I just do not want to sit down and write.

I want to be a writer. I know the joy of having written something and thoroughly enjoyed writing it and others get a joy from reading it. I know that if I sit and get some words written, I’ll be that much closer to getting that story or that book done. It’s just a matter of sitting down day after day and getting it done. There is no replacement for persistence.

I used to be what’s known as a ‘burst’ writer. That means I used to be able to find a free couple of hours and just bash something out fast and furious. I could finish a short story in a day or two. Give me enough time and I could get a lot of work done. I didn’t see the need for sitting down every day because I didn’t want to write every day.

All that changed this year. I set a goal to write each and every day. Not just once a day, but whenever I had time to write, I would write. I set a goal for how many words I wanted to get written for the year. 450,000 sounded like a far more words than I would write in a year, so I decided to include blog posts in there as well. I honestly thought that I would write a lot more words for blog posts than I would for writing fiction.

I was right, but I was off. I’ve written only a few thousand more words as blog posts than I did for writing fiction. Well what does that mean? It means that I’ve written just slightly more than half my annual goal as blog posts which include daily updates, Unorthodox Writing Tips, Movie Reviews, Book Reviews. The other half is fiction words.

Remember my overall objective here. I want to be a writer. If you’ve done any study, more writers don’t earn a lot of money. That means they still need to keep their writing skills sharp in other areas. Like writing reviews and essays. Writing books is good, writing articles will bring in a little more money. Writing reviews will as well. People will pay for words if they feel those words are worth publishing.

So do I feel bad that I’ve only written half my goal as fiction? Pfft. Silly reader. I’m writing. That’s the whole point. I’m learning to sit, write, finish. I’m also learning to sit and write whenever I need to not just when the mood strikes me. I’m learning to type faster to I can make better use of that time when I have it available. Yes, I’ve spent a lot of time writing things that are making me no money and will likely never make me any money, but I’m practicing. I’m getting better at sitting and going. I’m getting better at getting distracted by something and jumping right back in.

I will never be able to say this enough. If you’ve followed me throughout my journey so far this year, you know I’ve written every day. I’ve blogged every day. I’ve written when it’s raining. I’ve written when it’s sunny. I’ve written when my sinuses feel like they’re crushing my brain. I’ve written after cleaning up after one of the dogs gets sick. I’ve written when it’s easy and the words flow like they’ve come from some magical realm and I’ve written when each word felt like I had to etch it in stone.

You need to write to be a writer. You need to write every day to become a better writer. Don’t just assume that words will happen when they happen. Those days are few and far between. There’s nothing like sitting down day after day, hitting the keys, and watching words appear. They won’t always be the best you can do, but it’ll add to that total word count. At the end you’ll see progress. You’ll feel better. You may even feel the need to write more words just because you now feel good about having written in the first place.

A writer is his/her own worst enemy. You will be able to come up with many excuses not to write. Turn that around and start coming up with excuses to write. Don’t let yourself get in your way. Write. Daily. Even when it hurts.

Until Next Time!

WOO WOO!