This week's writing report:
I write weekdays from 6am to 7am Pacific. Join me!
Monday:
I procrastinated by using an online random number generator to tell me which scene to work on, then had 100 reasons not to write the one it picked. Decided to just write chronologically instead of skipping around. A slow start but words were written.
Tuesday:
I’m reading a novel by the brilliant Maggie O’Farrell and feeling completely inadequate by comparison. I reminded myself that her first drafts were terrible, too, so I kept going. Wrote about 500 words. I’m wishing I could be faster, but this is the speed at which words want to come out so I will just go with the flow and try not to judge myself for it.
Wednesday and Thursday:
Here are the reasons I didn’t write: I worked a 13-hour day for the bookstore on Tuesday; my oldest left for a school trip on Thursday at 4am (and had a considerable number of last-minute issues before leaving that needed to be solved); I had five Zoom calls on Wednesday; I was behind on client work for all of the above reasons; I was tired and grumpy and feeling fat; our house was being painted; I had a nightmare; the cat peed on the floor; I was in functional depression. At the end of the day, there are a million reasons, but the truth is that I chose not to use the time for writing, and that is okay.
Friday:
Because my work-in-progress includes alternate endings, I drew a flow-chart with the plot points I knew, leaving space for those I don’t. I meant to only work on it for a few minutes, but I was having too much fun and it turned into a good brainstorming session. Everything is in pencil so it can be easily changed. I’m planning to spend a couple of hours out of the house writing forward this weekend so that I can pick up in a good place on Monday. Life gets in the way sometimes, but it doesn’t have to stop us in our tracks.
I share this regular update because it is all progress. One sentence is progress. Showing up is progress. No one is doing "better" than you. I promise.
💗 Stephanie
How is your writing going this week? Leave a comment and let us know!