Many will tell you to create a schedule for your writing. It’s a solid plan. You could well end up writing a chapter (or more) per day. But, what if it just isn’t flowing?
How do you go with the flow of creativity – yet, confine it to a schedule? This is the part I seem to struggle with most.
I’ve decided to set a word goal for each night. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Now, I keep getting stuck, though I appear to be doing better today actually. I also keep looking at the word count, which is terrible of me.
Part of me says, “Yes, a schedule. Something to keep me on track – this is good.” Part of me says, “Just go with the flow man, don’t put restraints on your muse.” Yes, apparently part of me is a hippie.
Setting a minimum word count goal really is a good idea. If I could more effectively quiet my inner flower child – the idea would be gold. And, not making it a point to at least write SOMETHING every single day (or, night in my case, most of the time), is just counter-productive to keeping the creativity flowing. This one I know, from unfortunate personal experience, is certainly true for me.
Maybe that’s my solution! (Seriously – it just came to me – I did not plan this little “Eureka!” moment.) Maybe, instead of setting a specific word count each night, I should simply make it a point to write something – anything, regardless of how many words it may or may not be – every night.
Sure, some nights I would end up writing a grand total of 50 roughly thrown together words. But, other nights I could wind up getting that muse to chatter at top speed, spitting out 5000 words in a few hours (I’ve done that before too).
Most importantly, I could very well stop checking the word count every couple hundred words. I wish I could just make that particular feature invisible, until I was completely done with each draft.
I would love to know if other writers deal with this same quandary (if you don’t, I admire your discipline) and, as I’m sure I’m not the only one, how they schedule (or not) their writing.
