Write With Me! Study Hall, January 4, 2016: It’s the New Year, So. . . 

How about we be middling-productive? 

Really, don’t you get tired of people telling you how to be highly successful, more productive, the most organized person on the block, blah, blah, blah?

Do you realize that if you simply write for fifteen minutes every day, all year, at a rate of 100 words per day, you will have written 30,000 words? That’s half of a novel, a novella, or maybe two short stories, etc. 

Now, what if you gave it thirty minutes per day? That’s the whole ball of wax. 

Add in some editing time, and you can write freely, then edit last week’s work (usually not a good idea to edit fresh words till they’ve settled with you for a while, but if the shoe fits. . . .) in an hour a day. 

And therein you have a writing practice. Practice, of course, means repeating something until you get it right, but it also refers to the regular practice of a trade. In the case of writing, I think both ring true: the more you practice, the better you’ll be at your trade. 

Maybe every day doesn’t work for you, and you’d rather set aside whole days or mornings or afternoons, or even a weekend if your day job(s) are too burdensome. Whatever works! 

But let’s try for at least middling-productive this year. For me, I’m trying for hands-on with the novel each day and three times a week free-writing. What about you? 

And, in case you need to be scared into productivity, here’s your meme for today:
  


6 responses to “Write With Me! Study Hall, January 4, 2016: It’s the New Year, So. . . ”

  1. Trippmadam Avatar

    I love the meme.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Bobbi Avatar
    Bobbi

    I like your encouraging math, but don’t know whether I’ll get any writing done today. I got inspired over the holiday week+ and am back to searching for info on my grandmother. I’m in the midst of trying a few new approaches on ancestry.com and google. Randi’s still percolating, tho’, so I’ll probably attack her story later this week.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Glenda Bailey-Mershon Avatar

      Good luck with your grandmother! There’s a fascinating story there somewhere. I hope Randi bubbles up later this week. My goal today is just to put hands on my novel for a few minutes. Family obligations are still sponging up attention, but I think I can manage Chocolate Man for a few.

      Like

      1. Bobbi Avatar
        Bobbi

        Finally got back to Randi this morning. Edited and wrote for 2 hours. Haven’t set any goals, but thanks to you Monday Mornings have become a habit for me, so I’ll try to stick with that for a while yet. Hope you’re enjoying family stuff.

        Like

        1. Glenda Bailey-Mershon Avatar

          Yes, thanks, got a bit off schedule today, but perhaps I’ll post later today. So glad you’re writing!

          Like

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