I had a vacation. I also had a few days off before my vacation actually started where I was busy getting ready for my vacation. I also quite busy with work once I got back from vacation. All that meant I had precious little time to actually sit and write words. I wrote my daily blog posts, but I didn’t get any fiction written. That means that I have a long streak with no fiction writing.

Unfortunately that means I need to get myself back into the fiction writing mode. My fingers aren’t used to typing fast for long periods and I’m also not used to thinking ahead of where my fingers are typing. This is an interesting way of typing where my mind will actually be several words ahead of where my fingers are at so I’m always pushing forward. It’s just the difficulty of getting my brain back into that gear and now that I’ve had a number of days without doing this task, I need to get back on track.

How do I do that?

I’m so glad you asked.

I sit and write. No, seriously. It’s that simple. I keep saying that this writing stuff is as simple as just sitting and writing. I sat down and wrote a blog post. Those come easy for me and require little thought. I can just type and go for it. I then wrote a movie review, then a book review, then another book review. With each of these they 1) added to my annual word count and 2) got me back into typing fast and getting ready to jump back into my fiction.

The story had already been written so I know what’s going to happen. I just need to sit and let the action happen. The words will come out fast and furious. It’s all about practice and there’s nothing better than just sitting and doing. For me it doesn’t matter if I haven’t written for 5 days, 20 days, or 3 years. If I don’t sit and write I know it’ll only be that much harder tomorrow. Each day I let slip is a day that I’m not practicing and a day that I need to work at getting better again. It’s not like riding a bike. You don’t ride a bike for years and you can just hop back on and go. With writing you need to be actively thinking ahead and knowing what you’re going to write so when you get there it’ll flow along better. Sure you can write a lot in one sitting, but if you’re not writing on a consistent basis, it’s that much harder to get to the end.

At least for me it is.

I’m sure there are some people that can write brilliantly by writing once a month and cranking out 5000 or 10000 words in a sitting. I write a couple thousand words a day (on average, in fact of this writing I’m averaging only 1447 words per day due to a slow start and vacations) and I’ve written over 280000 words so far this year. That means if you write 10000 words a month you’ll have 120,000 words. Slow and steady is getting me up to my goal and beyond what I could do with burst writing. I used to burst write. I’d write a lot over a couple of days, then nothing for a couple weeks, then a lot over a couple of days. I’d get about 100,000 words done and I’d be fine with that. I’m no longer content with just writing what I now consider such a small amount. I want to, NAY! I need to write more than that. This is what’s driving me to write as much as I am. To prove that I can do it and to keep doing it over an extended period of time.

Remember, I’m doing this as a part time job meaning that I need to spend time as often as possible and write. Writing a little bit each day is serving me better than writing a lot only a few times a year. It’s also helping me get better because I’m at it daily and not just poking away a block here and a block there.

Back to my point, being that I haven’t really stopped writing something on a daily basis I was able to sit down and get back at it a little faster than I used to. Back when I burst write it might take me a couple of days of looking at the screen before I found the motivation to write. Now I have the motivations at my finger tips and can just sit and go. It feels great. It really took a long time to make this a habit of sitting down daily and writing. They say that it takes at least six months of doing something before it becomes a fully formed habit. I’m over that six month mark and I see no signs of stopping.

Hopefully I won’t fall off the horse often. Vacations will do that, but I know now that I can sit and write after I get back. My fiction is there waiting for me. The characters are calling me. I can hear their voices inside my head begging me to get them through their adventure. I’d better heed their call.

Until Next Time!

WOO WOO!