Recently, I set out to write a new book. While working out the pacing and the timeline for the draft, I set my word count goal. And missed it. And missed it. And missed it. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then I finally realized that I had doubled my daily word count goal after cutting my writing time in half (I was editing a piece – more on that next week). I was being completely and utterly unreasonable.
The effect on my writing morale was devastating. I was used to making my writing goal every day. I started questioning everything until I finally realized what was wrong. I backed off from the word counts, and did world building instead, developing character back-story, figuring out relationships, tying everything together. And when I was ready to write again, I looked at how much time I had to write, and set my word count reasonably.
It makes a big difference.
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