Breakthrough Moment

I had a watershed occurrence this morning in writing.. I'm sure most of you have already discovered this, but for me it was a 'light bulb' moment.

Brace yourself....

I learned that books are broken down into Chapters.

Seriously... I know, where did this come from, right?

That means that I don't have to write all 65,000 words or so in one setting, I can actually shoot for 2-3 thousands words and feel like I've accomplished a lot.

The implications of this are monumental.  I'll post more as it becomes available....






OK.. obvious weak attempt at humor aside, I found this morning that I was tracking my word count in the chapter I'm currently working on, because I have a goal number of words.. and that if I looked at the small goal and not the big goal, things became much easier.  Less stress, less.. 'I can't do this' feeling.

I guess writing is like dieting when you're fat. If you look at the big picture it can be daunting, but if you just knock out one day, and then another, and.. so on and so on.. before you know it you don't recognize yourself... and likewise your idea suddenly becomes located on paper.

The before and after is gradual, but profound.





Comments

  1. That's a really great lesson to keep remembering. We get so caught up in the big picture that it makes it difficult to take those small steps to begin with. I know I certainly don't get anything done while I worry about the kind of stuff I shouldn't! Thanks for the reminder Kevin.

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  2. Yesssss!!!!! Exactly. Focus on the moment... and making that one particular moment magical. That's what I do when writing. You *have* to block out the big picture most of the time... all it will do is drive you to insanity, lead you to shut off the laptop, and reach for that bag of donuts...

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  3. Ha ha, I laughed out loud when you wrote dieting is like writing when you're fat! Hilarious. I'm glad I found your blog.

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  4. Okay, this was a very cute post. And I'd say those wet dogs are precisely how I feel after I finishing writing a novel. Thanks for the laugh.

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  5. I just found your blog. I'm laughing because I had the realization about chapters a while ago as well. It has made writing so much easier!

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