Circumvent that nasty feeling of guilt when you miss your 1,000 words-a-day goal by narrating your life.
There’s an appropriate axiom that advances the idea of writing a thousand words every day. Without a doubt, that would be an ideal situation if, even on the worst day, when the bills have imploded on you, the dog is sick on the carpet, your car overheats while stuck in the snow, and your sleep level is little more than two hours, you could still get a thousand words in on your current article/short story/novel.
But life, it seems, is reluctant to give you that opportunity. Guilt could set in, especially if the thousand words are your goal, set to keep you from ignoring your project. Still, you don’t want to feel guilty about writing, especially if it’s your passion. So how do you have admirable goals (especially when it comes to word count) and overcome the problem of failing at them?
First of all, it’s probably helpful to remember that your goal is not the all-in-all; it’s perfectly acceptable to miss every now and again. Extenuating circumstances happen in every job, including that of being a writer, so don’t beat yourself up unnecessarily.
That being said, there are times when a little self-reproach might move you to get back to the project at hand. The conscience can be a useful goad.
But there’s a shortcut way of circumventing the guilt that can cripple you as an author, and make you feel as if you should no longer try: Writing in your head.
Yes, getting words down on paper is an excellent idea. This article, for example, has some helpful hints on how keep the creative juices flowing. But sometimes it can be difficult to find the requisite time to write on a piece of paper or on the computer. Hence the advice: Write in your head.
When you step out of the door in the morning, and the chill air unexpectedly slaps you across the face, note to yourself how you expected a bloom of frosty air to mist your path in front of you. Put your daily activities into narrative form: “I stepped over the maggot-laced pile of dog skat. I couldn’t help but wonder whose dog it was that had left that particular present on my front stoop.” Just like that, you’ve thought of twenty-eight words.
Now, the official word count of your thoughts is going to be astronomically high. That’s why this caveat helps to taper any over-exuberance: Only consider words put into a narrative form in your head as counting toward the daily goal. If you do this constantly, you’re almost guaranteed to 1) start thinking more like the way you write, and 2) “write” your thousand words.
The next step, of course, is actually transcribing them from thought to paper. This is where your word count becomes official, and you can more accurately track your goals.
This style of pre-writing is particularly useful when you consider how much of your writing is actually dross. Few authors can say that they rarely, if ever, have to recast a sentence. The mental gymnastics of thinking of your words helps to fine tune your own voice as a writer, as well as helps your “ear” when going over your work.
Plus it quiets down that guilt about missing your goal; and when that voice is quiet, your narrative’s voice can come through more strongly.
